I’m giving up

It’s that time of the year again. Lent. Long gone are the days of my Catholic school childhood when I would swear to give up being mean to my little brother or having bad thoughts about the girl who sat next to me in homeroom.

Gone also are the Fridays of fried fish sticks and tuna and egg salad swimming in yummy mayonnaise. Even more painful for me is the loss of my most favorite thing--grilled cheese sandwiches dunked in creamy tomato soup (though I think I might be able to make those work, just in a new way).

This year, I’ve thought long and hard about what to give up. For the past few years, when my eating was out of control, I’ve given up fast food or junk food. I’m already doing that, now. What food vices do I have left?

Just one.

And this is a doozy for me. My beloved Diet Coke. Now, before you say anything, I’m an educated girl. I know that Diet Coke is not good for me. I have read the chain e-mails about pouring Coke on your car battery to break up the corrosion, or using it to take the poison out of a jellyfish sting or cleaning your tile grout with it. I get it. It’s bad for me. Bad, bad, bad. But as I’ve always said, you’ll have to pry the Diet Coke out of my cold, dead hands before I give it up.

It’s not that I drink a ton of it. I usually only have one a day. I don’t drink coffee. But I need that cold, bubbly, artificially sweetened yumminess to start my morning. The rest of the day, it’s strictly H20. I’m lucky that I actually like water.

I thought if I were going to really challenge myself to sacrifice something this Lent, I’d commit to saying goodbye to my dear friend, DC. In my head, I can see the slow-mo montage. DC and me strolling down the beach, hand in can. DC and me sharing the morning paper (Business section for him, Sports section for me), or getting into an impromptu food fight while baking a cake—all while Queen’s “You’re my Best Friend” soars in the background. I'm crying, DC's beautiful can is sweating. Ah, the memories.

So, farewell, my red, white and silver friend. I’ll see you in 40 days. Parting is such aspartame sorrow.

P.S. The comment section is now working. Thank you, IS&T! Oh, and I lost 3.8 lbs. this week. Yay me.