This one guy from Jersey responded to my ad, and his first line was "wow, are you the one for me!" I liked the enthusiasm and read that as sort of metaphorical, like "wow, you seem like the type of person I would like to meet!" He's the custodial father of two kids, though, and I was somewhat uncomfortable with that, cause I'm wildly ambivalent about having kids myself. So I wrote him a light friendly reply and mentioned that although I'm looking to have a serious relationship with someone, I take things really slow and want to get to know someone first, and I've also never dated anyone with kids. Here was his reply (in part):

[I'd asked what it was like having kids.] "I would have another child in a heartbeat and want at least one more. I am positive that you will feel the same way some day. [emphasis added!!] Who knows you could be communicating with the future father of your children right now. [!!!!!!} I did say I was an optimist. Anyway I understand that you want to take things slow and I am fine with that... I tend to move to fast sometimes but I don't preseve [???] that it has harmed me more than helped me... It may be that way between us and I think you have the same aspirations as I do in life. I can tell you are very smart by the way you write and a thoughtful person that is one of the attractions I have to you. Perhaps I need someone like you to help stear my energy in the right direction or just keep me and my sons from doing the stupid things that men tend to do without a good womans intervention"

Yowsa! Good lord! Talk about projection! Although I liked his ad and he sounded nice, I think it's just bizarro that he would be writing all of this on the basis of ONE email from me. I can't imagine it would get any better, either. So I'm gonna nip this baby in the bud, and not feel too guilty about it either.

Contrast this with a correspondence I'm enjoying with another personal ad person:

"Your prose is perfect. Why ever would you be insecure about it? Me, I bleed over every word, and refuse to acknowledge paternity over any of my literary offspring. But your sentences are so poised; you're clearly a natural... I'm impressed by the list of your recent film viewings. I'm embarrassed to say I haven't seen a single one you've mentioned. I used to go to two or three movies a day -- how have the mighty fallen! I hope we'll be able to go to a movie some time."