Happy Fat Tuesday to all!

Every year for as long as I can remember my mother has gone on a diet for Lent. What this meant for us is that every Mardi Gras we would have an enormous and gluttonous feast. It was a rule in my house that to give something up you had to first overindulge. For Fat Tuesday we'd usually get pizza and mozzarella sticks and chocolate cake and apple pie and etc. I think Mom always hoped that she'd feel so awful the next day that it would actually be a relief to diet. I've never been able to break free of the overindulge-before-abstaining mentality, but I have decided that it's a rather unleathy way to live.

I have yet to decide if I'll give up anything for Lent this year. I will, of course, abstain from meat on Fridays. :) I've never been completely successful in my Lenten promises. I remember a year when I was about twelve or thirteen where I gave up buying earrings for Lent and actually cheated once because we were on a field trip at a history or science museum, and I found a pair of earrings that were too cool to pass up. I remember that they were the purchase of a lifetime, but I can't recall what the earrings looked like. Another year (in college) I gave up alcohol for Lent. I think I may have actually followed through on that one because I remember thinking that communion wine on Easter would be my return to alcohol (even though the doctrine of transubstantiation would suggest that communion wine is not actually alcoholic). Typically, though, I give up vices when I'm depressed, as a way of regaining control over my life. Since I'm not currently depressed, it seems a little silly. But I do like the feeling of superiority it gives me, so perhaps I will think of something.

What are YOU giving up for Lent?