Laissez les bon temps rouler!

It's Mardi Gras y'all! Or, if you're not French, Happy Fat Tuesday! Whoo hoo!!!

Yeah, sounds so much nicer when you say in French. :)

Today is the day our medieval ancestors started the tradition of gluttony, drunkenness and debauchery, for tomorrow we fast. S

orta reminds me of the New Years Eve/New Years Day dichotomy: Celebrate, party, get in those last 10,000 calories because at the stroke of midnight everything stops! We repent for our past diet and exercise sins, we give penance at the alter of the the salad bar and the treadmill, so that we can be reborn in the land of the thin and healthy lifestyle. While there are other people who can explain Lent, its significance and observation much better than (though I could bore you to TEARS talking about the special entrance on Notre Dame Cathedral that's use was reserved for Lenten penitents), there's two parallels that I am happy to draw: 1) It all the same, and 2) it's never too late, which goes back to #1.

You see, it doesn't matter if your New Years resolutions were left on the dance floor at 12:01 on 1/1/10, or if you've picked up that ball and ran with it, but find yourself struggling right now.

You may have had a heckova Valentines weekend and ate your weight in chocolate and are feeling like doing pennence right now. There may have been that 'slip up' of a cheeseburger and extra large fries last week when you had planned grilled salmon and steamed veggies. Slept in when we should have hit the trail/treadmill.

Wisdom is knowing the right path. Integrity is taking it.

You know the right road to walk, but sometimes it's not easy to take.

Sometimes you get sidelined, or side tracked, but resist the urge to beat yourself up over it.

Instead, treat it like Mardi Gras and Lent. You indulged today. Reflect, abstain and act tomorrow.

Every day you're given a chance to start over. Every minute you're given a chance to make a better choice.

Don't look back in regret. Look forward in hope and plan for success.