Lenten Friday Five

I've been out of the loop on Friday Five's lately, but thought I'd jump in on this one since it's a pretty slow morning here at Habitat Kansas City.

Mother Laura asks:
1. Did you celebrate Mardi Gras and/or Ash Wednesday this week? How?
Not really, no. I totally forgot that Lent was starting so soon and, like most of the media, got caught up in the election stuff instead. I guess you could say I celebrated Mardi Gras by voting on Super Tuesday

2. What was your most memorable Mardi Gras/Ash Wednesday/Lent?
I don't know if memorable is the term I'd put to it, but the year I gave up chocolate was very hard for me. It was one of the years I was in college and it seemed like there was chocolate everywhere! A former Catholic, my Protestant friends kept informing me that Sundays don't count in the 40 days of Lent, so it was okay to indulge that one day a week, but that seemed to defeat the purpose so I didn't give in. It did make Easter that much more of a big deal when I got to make myself sick on chocolate bunnies.

3. Did you/your church/your family celebrate Lent as a child? If not, when and how did you discover it? Yes, my family always did the Lent thing. We were Catholic, although not too terribly hard core. My parents fasted for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (but were told that wasn't appropriate for us kids) and we always had meatless Fridays for Lent. Even my school always served pizza on Fridays and during Lent there would always be a cheese only option (although many people ate pepperoni without thinking about it) - and this was PUBLIC school.

4. Are you more in the give-up camp, or the take-on camp, or somewhere in between? I guess I'd have to say the give-up camp - force of habit. I have taken things on a few years to try something different, and one year it went REALLY well. I wrote a note to a member of my family or a close friend each day to tell them why they were important to me. Several people called me when they received theirs and thanked me for bringing joy to their day.

5. How do you plan to keep Lent this year? Well, like I said before, I was sucked in to the political stuff this week and totally forgot it was coming. Then it snowed on Ash Wednesday cancelling the morning church service I was going to attend so it's really all out the window. I've been staying away from my church lately (for a variety of reasons), so I don't really know what to do with it this year. Maybe I'm giving up Lent this year.