Glutony

As I type this I am over-indulging in two scoops of 31 Flavors in part because it is "Dollar Scoop Night" and, more importantly, because Lent begins tomorrow. Every year for as long as I can remember now I have given up sweets of any kind for the 40 days before Easter. My only exceptions are that I allow hot chocolate and permit one piece of cake for the family birthdays that fall within this time frame (which, thanks to Baby Beck, is FOUR this year!) Today I marked this occasion with not one, but TWO gluttonous adventures. The ice cream dinner came after a pretty sinful tequila-lime bar lunch (that's it- no actual food to accompany either one). Which would have been bad enough, terrible, really, had both of those not followed an impromptu "Rosa is here with the kids and I have the day and Gabe has the morning off so let's go out to a very greasy, but oh-so-good" breakfast. And, just to mix things up a bit this year, I am also putting myself on a self-imposed tv diet. Unless there is a program I am sitting down specifically to watch (crappy as it may be given my fairly horrendous viewing habits), I will not be sitting in front of the tv wasting time watching just for the sake of watching.

And so begins tomorrow my Lenten journey for 2012. A time when I choose to give up something I love to experience the feeling of sacrifice. A time where I truly do make the effort to think about what is important and what it mean to "give up" those things which seem so necessary. Though my sacrifices are more than likely viewed as completely trivial to most anyone, they are mine. They make a difference to me and they test my devotion and commitment on a daily basis. They teach me that sometimes in the sacrifice comes the reward and that nothing is beyond a little will power.