Thursday, March 12, 2009

Calendar Cognitive Disorder: Lenten Edition

If you're thinking that by now I should realize it's Lent, you'd be oh-so-correct.

I did, after all, have the privilege of distributing forehead schmutz during two services on Ash Wednesday. I have indeed noticed the absence of flowers and presence of purple in the church sanctuary. I even made what the priest characterized as "a good confession" during last week's parish Mission.

Still, it doesn't feel like Lent to me. I'm not exactly sure why not, but I may have what one friend calls a calendar cognitive disorder. "Unless I have a calendar in front of me, I don't know what day it is," she explained recently. (I forget which day.)

My form of CCD is, as you might imagine, much more esoteric: Even with a liturgical calendar in front of me, I don't know what season it is.

I'm firmly convinced this has nothing to do with brain biochemistry. I blame exogenous factors like not being able to find Lekvar hamantaschen yesterday, and waking up to purple Peeps shaped like bunnies on Facebook this morning. This too shall pass. When?