Sacrifice

I kind of wimped out this Lent, and decided that I would give up chocolate.

Or, at least, I thought I was wimping out.

As is well-known, last year, I gave up Twitter. It was the hardest Lenten sacrifice I have ever committed to (and achieved). The second hardest sacrifice I ever made (and achieved) was the Lent I gave up coffee/caffeine — this was years ago. I had a headache for a week, but, ultimately, I cut way back on my coffee/caffeine intake.

So, this year, chocolate.

I didn’t think it would be so difficult. What that has taught me is that I take chocolate for granted.

I didn’t think about my chocolate intake. If I wanted chocolate, I had chocolate. Even if I didn’t have to have chocolate, if chocolate was there, I had chocolate.

I am suddenly confronting the fact that chocolate plays a bigger role in my life than I suspected.

Unfortunately, at my nephews’ birthday party on Saturday, I was confronted, almost exclusively, by chocolate. Brownies, cookies with M&Ms, chocolate cake, cookies & cream ice cream (homemade! with Oreos!).

I failed. I couldn’t deny myself chocolate. I had a brownie (which was delicious) with cookies & cream ice cream (again: homemade! with Oreos!). It was heavenly.

My father listened to me lament my failings regarding chocolate with some amusement.

“You know what this means, don’t you?” he asked.

“What?” I said.

“Chocolate is greater than Twitter,” he concluded.

Amen, Dad. Amen.