WIDE AWAKE. Abstinence
Dinner with the girls was fab, as always, and on a Friday at Lent. But there is no stopping the celebration of life. After the pre-op must come the post-op party. Obviously, we had no dispensation from the bishop to eat meat and it was the first topic at dinner.
Practicing Catholics generally abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all Fridays of Lent. But while I was born and raised Catholic, I do not really observe the rituals. My relationship with God is what we would describe today as “it’s complicated.” But it’s a relationship that has thrived through the years.
I do not abstain from eating meat at Lent. I eat whatever is served on the table. But not eating meat is not really an enormous sacrifice for me. In fact, there was a time in my life when I abstained from eating red meat for a year or two. But it was just one of those “experiments” for me.
It is a bigger sacrifice for me “not to work.” Despite my desire to change my lifestyle after surgery, old habits die hard. My biological clock has returned to work mode, which means working till dawn and missing the sunrise. Again. Most people need an alarm to wake up. I need an alarm to go to sleep. And so, over dinner, the girls and I discussed how a digital detox might make for a better sacrifice these days than not eating meat at Lent. Abstinence from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. might be better than abstinence from meat.
After surgery, I decided to abstain from caffeine and chocolate. It just started out as another experiment for me to see how far I could hold out. So far, so good. But I must admit that there are days when I’m dying to get a cup of coffee. I almost succumbed in Seoul last week. But I figured that I might as well continue this sacrifice throughout Lent.
Normally, I cannot resist chocolate. But postop bloating made the decision easier. And not fitting into all my jeans after surgery strengthened my resolve to abstain from this sinful concoction. I will not succumb to this one. At least, not yet. Maybe after Easter?
I am not a practicing Catholic but I have decided to abstain from working one day this week. I hope to see the sunrise.
Thank you, girls, for the gift of your time—to Liz who went straight to dinner from the airport after her flight from Hong Kong touched down in Mactan, to Mel whose Manila flight was two hours delayed but still made it after ten and after dessert despite battling exhaustion, to Manila-based Liv who made time for us and to the rest of the girls who braved Friday traffic and even from Mactan to make it, thank you. Perfect attendance is no easy feat for 14 girls who lead very busy lives.
While we all agreed that abstinence from eating meat was completely irrelevant these days, wasn’t it strange that we all ended up not eating meat? Some call it abstinence. I call it love. (Twitter: http://twitter.com/melanietlim)
Abstinence from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. might be better