Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

When I was a kid at St Mark's, this day was the beginning of a very heavy time.

Starting with Mass with the blessing of and distribution of the ashes of leftover Palm Sunday fronds and ending with Easter Sunday, we picked a bad habit to abstain from. As I got older, I graduated from giving up candy to giving up beer. Giving up sex was not necessary pretty much through college (smiley).

Like everything else except Islam, my religion has been diluted a lot during my life.

The best reminder my kids have is that we get cheap McDonalds fish burgers on Fridays. My wife and little girl and I are about to go to the Cathedral to get the good old ashen cross rubbed on our foreheads. The boys got theirs at Cretin today.

Traditions, however quaint or strange they seem, are important grounding points for we lowly creatures. I'm happy to have a few to hold on to.