Tis Lent

It's that time of year again. Growing up, my favorite time of the year was Christmas, bar none.  There were other special happenings for us, even if we weren't a family awash in endless traditions.  We had them, but my dad's chaotic work schedule on the railroad made it tough to have regular annual traditions.  Still, they were there.  Christmas, and Thanksgiving whenever we could get it.  Usually something around July 4th, but not always.  We didn't cook out much.  There was our annual trip to Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio.  And oddly, the annual viewing of The Wizard of Oz was almost on that level.  Dad would make chocolate and peanut butter fudge, and one year he bought a candy kit.  Go figure.  But above them all was Christmas. Though over the years, I began to fancy fall more than any season. 

Nevertheless, as a new Christian, I must admit Easter began to grow on me.  That really took off when I started attending the Florida church where I met my wife.  Not just because of her, but because they had their annual Sunrise Service (a popular tradition in Protestant churches). And it happened that their church and parsonage was on property that bordered a lake. The chairs were out, the cross was on the shore, and I can still remember seeing the sun come up over the palm trees.  Catholic though you might be, you have to admit just the sound of it seems pretty darn awesome.  And it was.  And it made Easter seem all the bigger deal than it ever had been.

Of course coming into the Catholic Church brought it all to a new level.  Sadly, I was taken by how many old world Catholic traditions weren't maintained, at least in our neck of the woods.  Yet the basics are there. And in Catholicism, the basics are still leaps and bounds beyond what most Protestant, and especially Evangelical, churches will ever experience. 

One of the strangest developments has been my appreciation of Lent. I'll admit not all Catholic practices have made a big impact on me.  But this has.  Something about it seems rooted; grounded if you will.  A reminder that be it living in a cave, a stone cottage, a third world shack, or a Manhattan skyscraper, or whatever fantasies the future does or doesn't hold, it all comes back down to the same reality - we're dust.  At this stage in my life, watching more and more I know pass, and seeing very few of my family left, that isn't just a quaint mantra.  It's to remind us what is and isn't important and real.

So to that end, I try very hard to follow Lent to the best of my abilities. Which are usually pretty lousy I must admit.  Truth be told, the hardest thing is what to give up.  At the end of the day, owing to my personality and just where our life has been over the years, there aren't many things I do on a regular basis.  Perhaps it's bad of me, but I've always jealously guarded my time with my family and my boys and would never do or not do something to compromise that.  But outside of that?  As I've said before, I have no hobbies, no ongoing regular interests, nothing I'm terribly invested in that doesn't include necessary things, nor any food or snack or indulgence I must regularly have.  That includes things I do, but on such an irregular basis that giving them up would seem like a typical month long hiatus. Most things I give up are things I'd almost have to start doing just to have them to give up. 

And no, the old 'replace it with something to do' doesn't cut it.  I get the whole 'giving up' part, and think it's valuable.  So each year finds me hitting my head against the wall trying to figure out just what thing I don't always to seldom ever do that I do enough for it to warrant being given up for the season.  Without, again, hamstringing some crucial aspect of life, especially time with the kids and family I have left. 

Well, this year I had a eureka moment.  I would give up Facebook and similar social media outlets.  I don't live on them, but I use them for material for the old blog, plus there are several pages that are interest based.  It is a bit of a cheat, since Facebook is the only one I belong to.  Others, like TikTok or Twitter have never interested me.  Though I will got to them if someone sends a link or reference or such.  But I do enough on Facebook - much of it being interest pages like history or movies or Beatles and the like - that I can give it up and feel like I'm not really cheating.  

It does come with a caveat: that there area a few things - like our own city government - that only operate through Facebook.  And sometimes, such as changes in services such as trash collection or weather alerts, only come through that.  So in those cases, where certain companies or institutions I interact with only go through Facebook, I reserve the right to go there and respond accordingly.  But nothing else.  Unless I'm informed they uploaded a photo of the grandkiddos. That will ever be a dispensation. Thus: 

But I will avoid all other pages, and that includes the few Catholic pages I still follow.  Which, with a couple exceptions, will be its own blessing.  There is one point to consider.  I seldom follow the MSM anymore.  Local channels in the morning, mostly to see weather and traffic, and through the week we'll catch the first half hour of the national morning news shows before getting on with the day.  But that's it. I get most of my news now from the Internet.  Not Internet pages, but people on social media who link to or reference various news stories.  When they do, then I'll look up the story and see what is going on.  But the MSM is so post-truth/post-journalism, I no longer waste much time with it.

So with that said, the number of stories I'll be exposed to will likely drop through the floor in the next weeks.  I'll still see them, since there are still blogs I visit that I don't count as part of the FB style social media.  But I'm sure there will be a drop.  There already has been on the blog in general, owing to life changes and new adventures and new chapters and all.  But this should see things really slow down.

There are a couple posts I've been kicking around for some time, and a couple follow ups I'll try to get out.  I might try to blog on frivolous things just to keep the habit going.  I'm sure there will be the odd story that doesn't require those social media sites to hear about (I recall the eye opening Kavanaugh reveal).  But on the whole, expect things to slow down from where they've already slowed down to.  In the meantime happy and blessed Lent to all.  I'll be around, if not as often. Just remember, Easter is not too far.