Meet the homonym
Apr. 9th, 2010 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhuThe other day, I received a card in the mail. I didn't recognize the return address, and the envelope was addressed to "Greene/Grossman", but I recently got a late birthday card from one of my mother-in-law's friends so I figured it must be something similar and I opened it. But as soon as I read the opening, "Dear Andrew and Caroline," I realized that it was in fact not for me.
So I fired up Spokeo and Google and found a household in Waltham, about 3 miles from my house, where there is an Andrew Greene and a Caroline Grossman. Obviously the sender had looked up "Andrew Greene" near Boston and simply picked the wrong one.
Since the presumably correct address lies two blocks out of my way when driving from JCDS dropoff to my office, I decided to drop it off rather than remail it. But I had another reason: You see, I suspected that this wasn't the first time I had crossed paths on paper with this particular "other" Andrew Greene and his bride Caroline.
You see, back in June of 1985,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mabfan and some of our other friends came across a wedding announcement in the New York Times: Miss Grossman Weds Andrew Greene. As you might imagine, they clipped it out and handed it to me amidst jokes of "Mazal tov!" and "Why didn't you tell us?" I don't know why, but it caught my fancy, and I still have the clipping to this day.
It seemed not unlikely that this couple was the same one, given their names, the fact that the wedding announcement indicated they had established lives near Boston, and the Spokeo evidence that they've lived in their current house for 21 years. So I wrote a cover note, explaining how I had found them and asking them to pardon my curiosity but are they the same couple from that wedding announcement? (And, if so, wishing them a happy silver anniversary!)
This morning, I dropped the note through their mail slot. I saw a man inside the house, but the situation felt awkward so I didn't ring the bell or hang around.
I just received a very nice email message that begins "Dear Andrew Greene (that feels really weird!)" and confirming that they are both the intended recipient of the misaddressed thank-you card and the still-happy couple from 1985. I'm glad to find that out.
So I fired up Spokeo and Google and found a household in Waltham, about 3 miles from my house, where there is an Andrew Greene and a Caroline Grossman. Obviously the sender had looked up "Andrew Greene" near Boston and simply picked the wrong one.
Since the presumably correct address lies two blocks out of my way when driving from JCDS dropoff to my office, I decided to drop it off rather than remail it. But I had another reason: You see, I suspected that this wasn't the first time I had crossed paths on paper with this particular "other" Andrew Greene and his bride Caroline.
You see, back in June of 1985,
mabfan and some of our other friends came across a wedding announcement in the New York Times: Miss Grossman Weds Andrew Greene. As you might imagine, they clipped it out and handed it to me amidst jokes of "Mazal tov!" and "Why didn't you tell us?" I don't know why, but it caught my fancy, and I still have the clipping to this day.It seemed not unlikely that this couple was the same one, given their names, the fact that the wedding announcement indicated they had established lives near Boston, and the Spokeo evidence that they've lived in their current house for 21 years. So I wrote a cover note, explaining how I had found them and asking them to pardon my curiosity but are they the same couple from that wedding announcement? (And, if so, wishing them a happy silver anniversary!)
This morning, I dropped the note through their mail slot. I saw a man inside the house, but the situation felt awkward so I didn't ring the bell or hang around.
I just received a very nice email message that begins "Dear Andrew Greene (that feels really weird!)" and confirming that they are both the intended recipient of the misaddressed thank-you card and the still-happy couple from 1985. I'm glad to find that out.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-09 04:10 pm (UTC)There's another Erica Schultz in the Boston area who is a graphic designer AND even has my same middle name, though that at least is spelled differently! http://www.paperlemon.com/ I dropped her a line when I found her site, but she never responded.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-09 04:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-09 05:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-10 02:44 pm (UTC)I used to have a name that I shared (as far as I could tell) only with someone in Poland; now I have a name that I share (as far as I can tell) only with someone associated with a witch trial in the 17th century... I've always been grateful for my unusual names, but now I wonder what sorts of world-shrink I'm missing out on.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-11 04:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-11 06:18 pm (UTC)This never happens to me.