In the 58 days since January 1^st when we all faced up to our New Year’s resolutions, this young year has dealt us challenges we could never have anticipated.

The first couple of weeks, misery did love company and the obvious trappings of holiday pounds and bad habits were enough motivation to persevere…UNTIL …The first real confrontation: Super Bowl Sunday.  That spread in front of the television covered every possible vice from gambling to gluttony.  Ok…so we slipped and slid (like the pigskin that Sunday in Miami?) and we were forgiven…after all, so were DA BEARS.  We steeled our courage, got back to the gym and used the cold as an excuse to take refuge from our bad habits under the coverlets in the company of other (new episodes!) Desperate Housewives.  

But THEN…nothing could protect us from the next unofficial American holiday timed to test our mettle:  Valentine’s Day.   Hopefully --to paraphrase the card I sent my mother—you didn’t find yourself all alone, like the chocolate with the oozy apricot center, stuck to the bottom of an empty box of chocolates.  And if you did, well there’s always next year.

The lunar calendar collided on day 45 with the Chinese New Year, Mardi Gras and the long, Presidents’ Day Weekend.   On Friday night I insisted on take-out Chinese, ordered a King Cake overnighted from Haydels in New Orleans, and on Monday, I rolled out a buttermilk crust for a cherry pie in honor of our first President on Monday….

That’s A BIG LIFE…any excuse for a party.

Oh, yeah.  There’s one more celebration I had to brave…One of my best girlfriends had her 50^th on Ash Wednesday.  THAT was a test…but luckily I have 40 days to get it right.

Did I miss a fete or event I should have honored?  Do you feel guilty about your transgressions in this New Year? Write to me!

abiglife@nbcuni.com

 Sissy