Another Fat Tuesday Down the Tubes

Lent has begun. I've never been one to give up something for Lent. It just never meant anything significant to me to do so. I had a relative by marriage twice removed who was raised in the Islamic way. When Ramadan came each year, she would declare that she was observing this by fasting from sunrise to sunset. OK.........Thass cool. Then she would switch from being a diurnal creature to a nocturnal one, so she could eat as much as she liked during the night, and sleep all day to avoid being aware of any hunger issues from her religious fasting. Huh.........? Observing the letter of the law while circumventing the spirit completely! Maybe she thought Allah wouldn't find out?

Anyway, I have given up plenty of late. I quit drinking alcohol. Turns out I was allergic to the darn stuff. Every time I drank, I broke out in handcuffs. I'm not agin it, it just doesn't work for me. Then I quit smoking after way too many years. I thought for the longest time that I would be immune to effects, but I was wrong, and it came down to choosing between smoking and breathing. That was a pretty easy choice, and when ever I have the urge to light up, I take a deep breath to remind myself how sweet being a non-smoker really is.

I was researching Ash Wednesday and Fat(Shrove) Tuesday this morning. Turns out that Fat Tuesday is called so because in the olden days, people would cook stuff to use up stores of items that wouldn't be used during Lent because during Lent you were not supposed to eat things that actually tasted good. Fat was one of those ingredients that added flavor and would not keep well during the Lenten season. Ergo: Fat Tuesday! Voila!

So what am I to give up for Lent? If I thought I was going to have any sex in the next 40 days, I could give that up, but honestly, I would be putting myself in the same boat as my Muslim ex-relative, and that is way too close to suit; there wouldn't be enough room in there for the both of us. Actually, since I quit smoking, I have put on a pound or two....maybe not eating stuff that tastes good isn't all that bad an idea.......