Fat Tuesday and Lent

    It has been a long standing tradition in my family to have ice cream on Fat Tuesday.  This wasn't just an ordinary bowl of ice cream, but the deluxe sundae, preferably from Friendly's.  Unfortunately, ice cream is something I can't eat right now but that was not going to hinder me from indulging on Fat Tuesday!  Instead, I had chocolaty, marshmallowy, melty goodness!  This 5 minute cake in a mug was the next best thing to ice cream.  It was so rich and yummy I had to share my dessert!  Delicious!

    I have been debating for some time about Lent and if I should give up something.  I take Lent quite serious and have given up things like Jack Daniels, soda, Starbucks Hot Chocolate and M&M's.  With everything going on this year, I think God will let me off the hook.  After all, when my brother got married, the priest said a prayer and magically we were allowed to eat meat on a Friday during Lent!

    I think the thing that appeals to me most about Lent is the count down.  I will say advent is a little better with counting down.  How can it be bad to count the days to Christmas with a chocolate treat to go along with it everyday!  But seriously, I have been doing a lot of countdowns lately.  I have a great friend that sends me a daily e-mail counting down to the end of this journey.  I have another good friend that reminded me that I'm not just 37% through chemo, but 37.5%!  And it just happens that the Pittsburgh marathon is 4 days after my last treatment.  So, as I increasingly hear news and the countdown to the marathon, I know come that day, I will be done with chemo. 

    So, Lent is just another opportunity to do some counting.  Do I really need another countdown?  Why not?  There are no rules about how to get through chemo and if counting is helping, why not?  I won't be giving up anything for Lent but I will be helping my friends who are giving up things to countdown.  And for me, I'll be 75% through chemo on Easter Sunday!  I always thought Mr. Snuffleupagus was my favorite Sesame Street character but perhaps it was The Count!