Who am I?

A surfing Santa

My identity and my wallet were stolen Friday. I'm not sure exactly where it was taken, but it either disappeared at La Madeleine restaurant or the HEB grocery store. I was frantic when I realized it was gone, but was strangely aware that it was missing almost immediately. Although I stressed and cried about it, I finally realized that all I could do was "let go." It was definitely beyond my control. I canceled credit cards and filed a police report, but that was all I could do. And, then, I understood that nothing in the wallet defined me (although the missing social security card did offer anyone who had it a chance to claim some of me). One interesting thing happened in the process of closing accounts, though. It had to do with my security question to one of the credit cards. What do you do in your free time (hobbies, etc.)? I had to think back to when I might have received that credit card. I wasn't sure what I had answered at the time? Had I said writing or cycling or running or surfing or??? I almost laughed when the woman on the other end of the phone line asked me that question. I had to guess. I tried to remember exactly when I had gotten that card. I answered the woman with a question in my voice, and it happened to be the correct answer thank goodness.

Sometimes, people ask me what I do in my free time, and I have a hard time answering. Some days I'm a cyclist and other days I'm a runner. When there are waves, I am a surfer. It's been almost three weeks since I've been in the water, so I'm sad to report that I haven't been surfing. Fronts have been passing through and flattening all the ripples. During the past few weeks, the only waves have been rough south wind waves. (A couple of times, the waves were halfway decent, but, of course, it was always when I was at work.) On Sunday (yesterday), I participated in a Santa Claus fun run that took place in Galveston. I had my surfboard with me so that I could go directly to the beach after the run. However, the surf "dude" called to say not to bother. He admitted that there were waves, but said that they weren't  surfing. "They're slop!" are his exact words. Part of the route for the run was on the seawall, so I got to see the slop for myself. I even drove to the seawall again after the run, and saw that, if anything, it had gotten even sloppier. I watched a couple of people paddle out, but they weren't catching anything. I probably could have gone out and had a little fun, but I would have also had to work very hard just to get out and not be pulled by the current down the beach.

I'm off of work this week, so I'm hoping to surf a few days. However, the surf reports are saying FLAT, FLAT, FLAT. It's also going to be COLD. Oh well, I can dress for cold, but I can't do anything about FLAT. My wish for Santa this holiday is for a few waves!