Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Giving it up

It’s Ash Wednesday. We ate pancakes and ham last night, and the sick kids made it through 7 a.m. Mass this morning. Now the penitential season of Lent begins.

Lent is tricky for me. I’m a little bit competitive with myself, always wanting to best what I did before, and my determination to stick with something once I’ve started it has butt heads with motherhood on more than one occasion. I’m accepting that it’s easier to not go to the store if it’s for one thing, and that my husband and I can’t slow shop for stations-of-the-cross art with the toddler and 10-month-old in tow at the local Catholic store, which is full of breakables.

So part of me feels like, “What else can I not do, or do, for Lent? I need to do/not do more!”

Another part of me just feels exhausted, like I can’t ever catch up on sleep, or energy, or patience, and should I really give up coffee? I loved this.