Love is awesome, but can we be friends first?

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Dear mylotters, Following up on a recent discussion about online dating, reading success stories, I thought maybe there's someone out there for me, and signed up on a couple free christian singles sites. I finally heard from a guy I'll call Z. I looked at his profile. It was a little sketchy in that it told me he's looking for a kind, caring woman who will take care of him, and a few other things I don't recall, but I responded to his "Hello." In his letter he said he loves a woman to wear purple, and proceeded to tell me his shoe size, hair color and height. In my letter back to him I told him that I like purple, too, and more or less followed a similar format. I told him my shoe size and so forth. The next letter I got was obviously not meant for me because it talked about things that were clearly meant for someone else. RED FLAG, eh? I did give him my Yahoo messenger contact info. He YIM'd me. He wanted me to tell him about myself so I did. Instead of asking me relevant questions or telling me about himself, he asked me things like how old my mother was when she died, where she was born, and same re my father. I told him I didn't consider family history important and that I'd like to find out more about him. He's 10 years younger than me, and is divorced because he caught her with someone else, and his son is 12 or 13 -- he doesn't know??? Hello. Then he started talking about how he loved the way I sound (on paper) and I'm just the kind of woman he's looking for, and I'm telling him we don't even know each other. Then he started using the Yahoo audibles -- the flirty ones. As I'm typing this now I'm wondering what was on my mind and why did I keep up the nonsense? I thought...maybe I'll find a real person in here somewhere if I just stay cool. I gave him my phone # and since he is currently in another country, his call came through an operator -- internet relay, I believe. So Z says something and the operator tells me what he says. Then I say something -- how stupid is that? It was a very short conversation. He didn't say anything to which I could actually respond. "This is Z." Duh!!! I said "Hi Z. Nice to hear from you." Then there was a big fat silence. Then the operator said it was my turn. I said "I don't feel comfortable with this." Then we ended the call. NEXT: I got an email. I'm sure he copied it from somewhere: "Dear joyce, Here is a man [sic] (see what I mean, copied) I thought I'd never know. The one who stole my heart so innocently, but with care and grace and perfect love. The perfect thought is us together forever. The sweetest word is your name. And the greatest thing is your love. Every silent prayer that has left my mind, all the empty words that have left my mouth and chased my lips, and all the lonely tears that have escaped my eyes have made me who I am, one to love you more. All the times I felt I've found the one, and all the times I've mourned over a bleeding heart, all the times I've given it all I've got is are as many as I have found my face in the mud. All the guys who just wanted my body [lol...obviously a copy job], all the pieces of myself I've given away, all the things I've wished I've done, and all the things I wished I hadn't helps me love you with purity and certainty. All the times we fight feels like we're gambling our lives. I hope we never lose. I love you so much..." The letter goes on but it's too much trouble to keep typing since it's not original words from him anyway. Here's what I wrote back: "Hi Mark, Your love letter is down right scary. You're offering me your heart and moving way too fast. Please calm down and don't feed me these lines of love. I don't have anything against love. I love being in love. It has to be based on something real, not a fantasy. I'm not a gullible kid still hungry for any attention that comes my way. As I told you on YIM, I'd like a friend first. If it leads to something closer down the road, that remains to be seen." The next thing I got was another copy job about long distance relationships, how two people have to be very committed etc. I didn't respond. Now I'm screening my phone calls. Now that I've ventured forth and seen one of the men who are out there, I'm ready to crawl back into my hidey hole. I hope this hasn't been too long-winded. Your feedback is always welcome. The