And why on earth they would want my identity, I just don't know. It is apparently worth stealing...

Hubby and I only use our credit cards on a rare occasion - and clearly every time we stay in a hotel from now on. So when we get our bill, we know exactly what we are going to see. Last month, as expected, we received the bill which contained charges for Jeremy Camp concert tickets (YAY!). We paid it in full - as is our normal practice. This month, we expected to see a charge from the hotel we stayed in on our little weekend away this summer. And certainly, it was there.

And so was a $309.95 charge that made no earthly sense to either of us.

Upon opening the envelope and seeing a number at least 4 times higher than anticipated, Hubby admitted he really had to fight the urge to blatantly accuse me of "running up the credit card bill" - something which I have never done but for the sake of concert tickets. This $309.95 charge appeared to be something purchased on the internet and was somehow linked to google.

We both read and re-read the one line item as though reading it over and over would somehow make it make sense. And then we paused, each of us madly searching our memory banks in an effort to ascertain just WHAT in the world this could have been. Had I been concert ticket shopping in my sleep? Unlikely considering we have dial up and well, it would have been almost noon before such a transaction could have been completed. Did Hubby accidentally use the credit card instead of the debit card when he paid for the car repairs? No.

So we, being the under-the-rock-dwellers that we are, finally figure out that someone out there has taken hold of our precious identities and oh-so-carefully-guarded credit card and effectively run away with it. We checked our wallets and indeed we still have our credit card in our possession. But merely holding the piece of plastic in your hands is not all you need to remain safe from theft in this world.

Of course, we immediately called the credit card company and they were extremely friendly and helpful. I imagine they get calls like this all the time and the gal on the other end of the phone was so calm and reassuring - it really just erased it from our worry-file.

So I replaced the gaping hole where worry once danced around with something called curiosity. Who on earth stole my number? How did they get it? What did they choose to buy? What is going to happen when the company goes after them?

And also, is this going to happen again? Because really, I didn't think I was that popular. Obviously, my money is.