Want My Identity?

     Not that long ago my mother and I were at the counter in JC Penney making a purchase. The saleslady behind the counter did what salesladies so often do and tried to entice my mother to sign up for a store credit card, offering her more savings on her purchase if she did. My mother was not going for it. She was very reluctant. The saleslady told her exactly how much she would save once approved. I goaded my mother into taking the bait. We, the saleslady and I, were this close to signing mom up for the credit card and then the lady requested my mother to use the "pin pad" to enter her social security number into the computer. Mom put on the brakes, for good. She wasn't having it. She didn't like the idea of entering her social security number for JC Penney or anybody.
     It wasn't until we got back home did mom explain that she was concerned about identity theft.
"C'mon, mom, really, who's gonna want your identity anyway? You're a 69 year old woman with cancer and three crummy kids. Nobody is gonna want to be YOU!"
     Of course I say this with tongue and cheek. Of course I know what identity theft is and that it's a horrible crime. But it makes you think. Identity theft is all about the numbers; your social security number, your bank account number, your credit card numbers and I suppose we gave this particular theft the most convenient name we could think of. But these numbers; they are not really our identity. Whatever numbers you can steal from me would not change my friends, those I love or who I really am...my identity.
     My friend, Jay, and I recently joked about if someone were to hack our computers; they'd take from us the recent list of emails of cast members in the upcoming show, our brand new Angry Birds Space (which we both agree is more frustrating than fun), and maybe our recent credit card statements which you can feel free to pay off for us if you wish.
     It's not that I don't take identity theft seriously; it's that I query the phraseology used to describe the crime. My identity is summed up in what I do, the company I keep, how I spend my time, not my dollars. My friends aren't famous and don't have expensive cars and vacation homes, but they're there whenever I need them and sometimes when I don't think I do. I don't have any glamorous job but I'm lucky enough to get on stage a few times a year and do my soul the favor of putting on a costume and challenging myself to learn a bookful of lines. I don't have an enviable lifestyle but it offers me time to spend with my kids and husband, my mom and dad, my family and friends and sometimes, time all to myself... I guess you can't steal all that from me, but now I'm beginning to see why you'd want to.