X on X: Dear Andrew Edghill
Dear Andrew,
Hi, this is Andrew Edghill writing. I’m not sure of the best way to introduce myself without including some type of remark to break the ice. I know it’s kind of strange to receive a communication from someone with your same name—but I’m hoping that our awareness of this awkwardness in fact lessens it a little. If not, shit.
Before I get to the point of this message, I did want to let you know that I may or may not have accused you of stealing my identity. I’ve only said this among small circles of people, though. I’m sorry. I thought my birth certificate was stolen as a child and since there was another me out there in the world using my name, I figured it was you. Crazy right? But it turns out I had the story wrong; it was actually my brother’s birth certificate that was stolen, and there’s no evidence an Andrew Edghill had anything to do with it. Shit.
I didn’t intend on wasting our correspondence on this misunderstanding, but it might serve as a decent segue. For one, it made me get my “other Andrew” story straight. It also made me do a little research on us. Do not consider this list finite, but I now know that among us is a photographer living a couple of hours from me in Washington, D.C.; not one, but two in Barbados—where if you’ve ever looked, you’d know there are Edghills-a-plenty; a kid in Texas; a British Columbian singer-MC-actor-writer-composer extraordinaire who has created our personal anthem; and of course the nondescript Facebook accounts that suggest there are even more of us, like the one with a Whitney Houston profile picture and 24 friends. I’m pretty sure it’s a bot. I don’t think we should forget them though.
There are probably also some others out there without online presences. If you’ll join me, we might reach them eventually.
And now that I know you didn’t steal my birth certificate or my name, we don’t have to worry about any hidden resentment or paranoia on my end. We’re cool, right? If you want to keep this communication going, let me know. You’d be helping us start a fellowship in this bond of Andrew Edghill.
Take care!
Andrew
