Gmail taught me how small the world really is.

After a year or so of waiting, I finally got my hands on a Gmail invite. Oh the bliss. I was so excited to get away from Hotmail and to get what seems to be an endless supply of megabites for e-mail storage. 1 gig they would give you. It was unheard of back then. I was always having to delete my junk mail and old e-mails from hotmail because my mail box would get too big and they wouldn't deliver my mail unless I cleaned it out. Gmail would end all of that.

I clicked on the invite and I entered my information. The first item of business, what will my address be. My first choice was michaelhopkins. I was utterly disappointed to know that it was taken. I was hoping that I was early enough to get it but wasn't. Too bad for me. I thought for a while and decided I would just stick my middle initial in there and try that. It was available. "Sweet" I thought but little did I know the trouble I would cause michaelhopkins.

I started my new address and I kept getting informed that people had sent me e-mails but I wasn't getting them. I soon found out that some of my friends were leaving out the k when they typed in my e-mail or they just assumed it was michael.hopkins@gmail.com.

A friend of mine sent a dinner invitation to me and she got an e-mail back that he wasn't sure who she was but that even though he was flattered, his wife probably wouldn't approve. Another time, my friend Sommer wrote me a bit of an e-mail.

Sommer Writes:

Hey chico,

Just wanted to say hi. I talked to Erin Fox on Sunday and she asked abou you. I tried to find out about her documentary but somebody came and interrupted our conversation, so next time.

Glad you are FINALLY beating me in the social contest. But I am going to be making a comeback one of these days, make that months.

Love you long time,

Sommer

The response that she got from michael.hopkins:

Have we met?

What do you think Sommer would think?

So harsh. What's that for?

I receive this email and below it the previous conversation.

Subject: A Treatise on the Subtleties of a Single Letter by Sommer Greer

There are 26 letters in the English alphabet. Almost every letter by itself is useless, but the 26 letters together are a synergetic group of unlimited possibilities. Let us not forget that each letter in a designated name is as important as the next, whether silent, superfluous, or forgotten.

All of this was kind of funny and I am glad we got it figured out. I hoped that it wasn't bothering the other michaelhopkins or michael.hopkins too much. One day I was at a friend's wedding and I was talking to a friend that was in my ward. He told me that he had tried to e-mail me but had got the address wrong. I laughed and told him the stories about how a lot of people make the same mistake and that I hoped they guy didn't hate me too bad for getting my e-mails.

Then he told me that the guy e-mailed back asked him what the heck was he talking about.

It was his cousin.