Meatfare Sunday

Today was Meatfare Sunday. That means today is the last day we are to eat meat before Pascha. We had a potluck lunch with a lot of good food.

I’m not sure how well Great Lent will go for us this year. I’ve decided that in addition to fasting from the foods we are supposed to fast from (meat, dairy, eggs, oil and wine) I will fast from Neopets. That means I’m also going to fast from the guild site that I frequent. In the past when I have fasted from Neopets, I have still visited the guild website and participated with the activities there and talked with the people in the guild. This year I am going to stay away entirely and see how long it is before I go crazy! *lol* Just kidding. Although even though I’ve said I was going to quit Neopets, I haven’t managed to entirely break the addiction. I was away for a short while, and then started peeking in occasionally, and now I think I log in every day again. I haven’t done dailies every day or tried to make neopoints (except for occasionally peeking in on my stock market stocks), but I had been playing some of the guild games and ran a round of What is IT? That’s a game where I think of an “IT” and everyone else has to guess what IT is by asking questions that I can answer ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ The only problem is that visiting Neopets and the guild has begun to take up time again that I should be using for other things. So I need to kick the habit. Again.

It makes me feel a little bad because I feel as though I have some sort of relationship with some of the people in the guild. I don’t talk with these people outside of the guild, and yet they are all important to me in one way or another. But it’s like anything in life -- if you don’t continue to run in the same circles as the people you have begun relationship with, eventually time passes and you realize that you haven’t seen nor talked with people for quite a while. Then can you really still call them “friend?” That has happened to many people from our previous church. I care about them still, but don’t make the effort to contact them.

Although I have heard people suggest that can we really call people we know just on the computer “friend?” I’d like to think so. But what I know of someone through a computer screen may or may not be what I would know them like if we knew each other face-to-face. And I can assume that people know who I am and what I am like through the computer, but do they really? Everything I say is merely words on a screen. You don’t see my facial expression or read my body language. I can put my best foot forward so you see only what I want to write.

What is most disheartening is it sometimes appears that some people I have met online don’t really have the physical support of friends around. Bruce & I have many friends and a community of support. I can’t imagine a world where I would feel totally isolated and alone. Does that really happen?

On the Ark I was listening to someone talk about different family types. There were 3 different family types. I don’t remember what they were called. All I remember is that our society in North America is like the third type in which family groups are often long distances apart and not very close. We stress independence and are, therefore, more isolated. The person who was the expert also mentioned that in his studies he found that throughout history this type of family dominated in highly advanced civilizations just prior to their demise.

Every once in a while, lately, one or both of my kids will say that they are going to live close to us when they grow up so that they can visit us all the time. And while I am looking forward to seeing them gain their independence (although not for a while yet), I must admit that I hope they find their careers and spouses close to us. Either that or I hope they both find a similar place and then I’ll move to be closer to them. A little pathetic? Maybe. But I hope to be available no matter how old they are. Available, but not pushy. God give me the wisdom I’m going to need as my kids gain independence.

Well, originally I was going to talk about how for Lent this year I’m hoping we (Bruce & I) will be able to do mostly just juicing and vegetables. We keep diary in the kids’ diet and will need to ensure they get healthy amounts of protein. *looks up* I guess I went off on a bunny trail and will discuss our Lenten plans another post.