The Other Amber

A few weeks ago I totally nerded out and searched for ‘Amber Grundman’ on Facebook. I know what you are thinking, but now that my last name has changed from ‘Scott,’ I really didn’t think there would be any matches. But I was wrong…and there was just one. Her profile photo looked normal, so I thought I'd send her a message.

My message:
Hello! I just did a search for myself, (I know, total dork move), and then your profile came up! I'm just curious to know if you married into the Grundman name or if it's the name you've always had. Write back if you want.

Amber Grundman
SLO, CA

Her response:
Hi! You know the funny thing is when I saw I had an email from my name I thought it was a glitch! Ha! I've been checking this with my blackberry a lot lately and didn't see that it wasn't from me until now!! Im a dork!

Okay well to answer your question I have had this name all my life! I am getting married this summer and will happily get rid of it! You would think that a last name simple as ours wouldn't get Mispronounced so much! Haha!

We have to be related some how... Did you marry in to the name?

Talk soon I hope
Amber

I was so excited to get her message and it seemed like she was totally normal! (You always hear about the weirdos online). So I wrote her back and told her that my mother-in-law is a genealogy expert and that I could ask her to do some research to see if we were related. She then wrote me back with a bit of info about her grandpa, which I forwarded on to my mother-in-law.

Here is what she emailed me back:

Gustav (1857-1937) and Augusta Somers Grundman (1862-1938) came from Germany.
They had five children:

1. Theodore F.
2. Paul John (John’s great grandfather)
3. Michael Gustaf (the other Amber's great grandfather)
4. Mary
5. Frank

Michael Gustaf Grundman married Anna M. Roy in Faribault MN. Their children were

1. Vernon Grundman who married Louise Fitzpatrick
2. Robert Grundman who married Jo Ann Mullins
3. Berniece Helen Grundman
4. Roger Grundman born 26 Jul 1924, Married Eileen Alice Lahiff born 26 Apr 1927 Minneapolis MN. (The other Amber’s grandfather)

Their children:

1. Vincent Paul Grundman
2. Marianne (Geis? married name?)
3. Bernadette Marie
4. Teresa Eileen (Cross? married name?)
5. Michael Thomas Grundman (The other Amber’s dad)
6. Daniel William Grundman

Isn’t that crazy that John and Amber’s great grandfathers were brothers? So we are semi-technically related!! We’ve emailed back and forth a few other times, and we’ve found out that we have some eerie things in common. Such as...

- Amber has a younger sister who was born on 2-2-84.
- My birthday is 2-2-77.

- Amber’s grandfather’s brother owned a shoe store called ‘Grundman Shoes’ in Indiana.
- John’s dad’s cousin owns ‘Grundman Shoes’ in Eureka, CA.

- Amber is pretty crafty and into graphic design.
- I am pretty crafty and am a graphic designer.

- Amber has a blog dedicated to her upcoming wedding called ‘Trip to the Altar.’
- I too have a blog. (Duh).

-We both hand made wedding cardholders for our weddings.

Amber’s super cute birdcage:

My super cute wedding cake:

- We have both posted each other’s blogs on our blogs titled ‘The other Amber Grundman.’ (Ok, so she did this first and I copied her, but still it’s a similarity!)

- My mom came across the other Amber’s blog and left a comment. The other Amber then wrote me and said that her mom would totally do the same thing if she came across my blog.

- My blogger Twin Lori clicked on ‘Next Blog’ at the top of her blog and it took her to the other Amber’s blog! No joke!

- We both have brown hair and are really cute. (I wasn’t sure if this one was obvious or not)

Once again the Internet has amazed me and put me in contact with someone I had no idea was even out there. Thank you Al Gore!!

**Check out her blog if you get a chance. If you are someone who enjoys weddings, like myself, then I know you will enjoy her entries. I'm so bummed I didn't have a blog throughout my wedding plans! Could you just imagine the tales I would have had to write about?