So, I haven’t written a post in a few years (ha-ha!). Instead, I have been happily doing various other things and avoiding being on the computer at all, truth be known. Real life is much too fascinating!

However, it seems prudent to mention a fact that has managed to confuse some people lately. Eric Jacobsen (my husband) and I have just celebrated our 20th anniversary living here full-time on Salt Spring Island, an island with the population of about 12,000. Due to that length of time and his daily contact with customers at Windsor Plywood, we have made many friends and acquaintances.

Then, in early 2024 (or before?), another Eric Jacobsen came to town and became the new Executive Director of our local Lady Minto Hospital. Wonderful! No worries.

Except, some things started to happen. As long-time Mountain Equipment Co-op members, we were surprised to discover that Eric’s membership contact information had all changed to a different Salt Spring Island address. That was rather odd, since Eric still held the actual card in his wallet. Of course, ultimately that made no difference, as it turned out MEC was no longer operating as a co-op.

Then, when Eric went to borrow some items at our local library, he was notified of overdue children’s items on his account. Again, he held his card in his wallet, but some staff member apparently changed the contact information to that of the other Eric Jacobsen. We got that straightened out but… you get the idea.

Our local Salt Spring Exchange online garage sale/services website sometimes has posts by this other Eric Jacobsen for items on sale. When this happens, my Eric often is approached by customers aware of these listings, and then Eric has to explain the listings are not his but the other Eric’s. I do believe at one point, my Eric reached out to the other Eric to see if he would be willing to use a middle initial or some other indication in his postings so that people would be less likely to confuse the two of them. However, I don’t think any agreement was ever reached. What is a person to do?

So, if you are reading this as a result of confusion over persons named Eric Jacobsen living on Salt Spring Island (having discovered this in a Google search perhaps?), at least now you know! And, if you are the other Eric Jacobsen (middle initials A.F.) of Lady Minto Hospital, perhaps you could figure out a better solution for differentiating the two of you?!