Lenten Pilgrimage to Trader Joe's

After a really frustrating morning, I gave into the urge that I've been fighting for the last month and decided to make an errand run down to Indianapolis. I'd put off getting organizer pages since the beginning of the year, and my life was struggling for it (I scheduled three different things at about the same time as my son's piano lesson the day before yesterday, and that is just one example), so I rationalized that I needed to get to Franklin Covey ASAP, and that I also needed a Trader Joe's fix.....and the reality of all of it was that after several months without a road trip...I was feeling quite claustrophobic.

Oh, I'd missed Trader Joe's. I stocked up on tea, snacks, and I drooled over ethnic foods and sauces that just don't exist in Fort Wayne (and and of course, all contained wheat, so drooling was all I could do). And of course, I replenished our stock of Two-Buck Chuck (Charles Shaw Wines....REALLY good, at quite the discount).

Then, after a call to my husband to clarify that he really wasn't interested in my picking up a beer called "Fat Weasel"...I saw it across the aisle, hanging innocently from a shelf: WASABI PEAS. I love just about anything wasabi, and dried peas are rather fun as well. I threw the bag in my cart, but then when I was sorting through groceries, I looked at the ingredients label and to my chagrin, they had wheat (Grrrr, snarl). Who'd a thunk it?

So, the wasabi peas went back. I couldn't have resisted that kind of temptation sitting in my cupboard for another three weeks (but they would've been great in my Easter basket!)

On the way out of town, the kids wanted White Castle for their Fish Nibblers. So I looked at the menu and sighed that there was nothing for me. "Why did I have to pick Lent to come to Indy? I can't eat at any of the restaurants I love to eat at here!"

(in reality, I was not in the least regretting White Castle...I had just got done realizing that splitting an entree at Buca di Beppo was not an option, either. I could've cried. I so HEART Buca di Beppo, and I was only about 100 yards away. It was hiding on the other side of the mall, whispering to me, tempting me, calling my name).

"Oh, you gave up wheat for Lent? " Chris asked. "I thought it was just your diet."

"No, I mean I am trying to change the way I eat overall, but this was purposely for Lent. After Lent I can make exceptions for spontaneous, impulsive road trips and the dietary challenges they create."

There was silence for a minute....

"Yeah," Chris started. "There's nothing like not being able to have wasabi peas that really puts you in touch with the sufferings of Christ."

Really, I have no idea where this kid gets his sense of humor.

(Of course I know that giving up wasabi peas, or anything else that I can't eat is less than nothing compared to the sufferings of Christ. However, if I had not been laughing hysterically, I probably would've had the where-with-all to respond "No, but there's nothing like giving up wheat to cause me to contemplate how pervasive sin is." It's EVERYWHERE.)