Cindy's World

This year for lent I gave up chocolate. For me, giving up chocolate is like making a New Years resolution that I know I’ll break. Once you give up something it seems all you do is think about it – forbidden fruit. At first I did great, and then I saw a commercial for chocolate. Next I read a magazine advertisement for chocolate. At the movies the guy next to me was eating chocolate. My waiter showed me a desert tray filled with chocolate goodies. The shelves at my local grocery store were filled with chocolate cakes and cookies. Chocolate ice cream seemed to form a river at my feet as I walked by the freezer section. I went to bed and chocolate sugar plums danced thru my head. I looked at the chocolate hidden in my kitchen (so my family won’t find it) and tried to ignore it like a rejected lover. The temptation was everywhere. The hold on me was strong; but I survived and let me tell you, “That one day of being chocolate free was the hardest day of my life.” I spent the next 39 days feeling guilty whenever I ate chocolate. Finally, Easter came and I ate chocolate bunnies – minus the guilt.

But this was the first year I questioned my sacrifices. When someone told me he was giving up his aversion to technology I thought may be I’ve had it wrong all these years. May be I shouldn’t give up that which I love, but rather that which I hate. So, as sat and ate my chocolate cake topped with chocolate syrup and chocolate sprinkles I thought that next year I’ll give up my aversion to coconut cake; and if it comes with chocolate sprinkled on top, so be it.