Special Treat

Before I left Cleveland a good friend gave me a box of confections from Lilly Chocolates.

There are sacrifices I make for lent that I keep to myself but most of my friends know that I give up sweets every year. Sweets means candy, chocolate, ice cream, basically any kind of dessert. It is hard to keep a lid on that one since we eat with friends so often and it becomes obvious when I'm the only one at a table not eating dessert. My Lenten fasts and sacrifices are meaningful to me and I keep to my fasts and don't sneak in things here or there.

This is the first year that I have ever broken my fast from sweets other than a time or two where I had a bite of a sweet, momentarily forgetting it was Lent. Fortunately, I have caught myself right away when that has happened.

So, here we are on this trip and I had no intention of stopping my Lenten fast from sweets but on our first morning here, tired from the plane ride and 7 AM arrival, I slipped. Steve and I stopped at a patisserie on our way in from the airport. I ordered a cafe cream and a slice of plum tart. I was half way through the tart when I realized what I had done. In my sleepy haze I decided that for this one year I would abstain from abstaining, at least from sweets.

I did however decide that I needed to maintain some of my fast from sweets and I chose not to have any candy or chocolate until Easter.

Thus, this sweet little box sat unopened on the kitchen counter from the time we first arrived in Switzerland until last night.

Since Steve and I were in Paris with our two friends for Easter, the box sat here waiting for my return. When I returned I decided that I would wait for our friends to leave before I opened "the box". The box had now taken on a magical quality to me. I opened it last night and shared three of the lovely chocolates with Steve. We will likely share the other three tonight.


Thank you Jean. Your gift brought me much pleasure, not just last night when I shared some of the chocolates with Steve but every morning when I walked into the kitchen and saw the box on the counter.