personals, responding to?

Anyone else out there ever reply to a personal ad? I never had before. I'm a bit of a people-watcher so have a pretty good time also reading folks' personal ads. I finally run across one that makes me go "wow, I think I would really like to get to know this person." This alone seemed really strange. Writing to a stranger on a personal level is very intimidating. We write to strangers in a professional way often: letters of introduction, letters of reference, inquiries to technical support, admissions essays, etc. Suddenly, you are writing to a specific individual for the sole purpose of exploring the potential of a relationship. Frightening. What do I do if they don't reply? What do I do if they do reply? Why am I worried about the rejection of someone I have never met?

I had a very unusual experience, well, to me it seems unusual, it might be common when compared to others. The first few exchanges of e-mail went very well, which progressed to phonecalls and instant messaging and text messaging. This went on for several weeks. Even though I hadn't met them, I felt a connection to this person and really enjoyed interacting with them.

Then. We met. It was like meeting a complete stranger all over again. Nothing that had occurred over the last few weeks seemed to affect this interaction at all. It was immediately clear that there was no chemistry, clear for both of us. We proceeded to have a cordial time together for a few hours, but it wasn't particularly exciting for either, and mostly just a little awkward.

Such an unusual experience, I'm definitely hesitant to repeat it.