Lent has come early this year ― and that means Mardi Gras arrived before Valentine’s Day. It seems to have caught retailers unawares, as the red hearts swept onto the shelves right after the Christmas décor was bundled away. In a proper year, where the holidays march in at a genteel pace, such discord would never arise. Christmas would give way to New Year’s horns, confetti and champagne flutes, then the tokens of love and romance, and finally, the purple, gold and green beads and masks would make a brief but brilliant debut.
But not this year. This year, we have all been caught by surprise. Scarcely were we done with Super Bowl 50, than we faced down Fat Tuesday; in fact, a regular trifecta of observances: Super Bowl, Chinese New Year (Monkey), and then Mardi Gras and the glittering conclusion of Carnival.
Because Mardi Gras, despite the hype of the marketplace, is truly only one day in the year, and at midnight its time is up. When the clock strikes the last, twelfth “bong”, it is Ash Wednesday. The season of Lent is come.
Lent has never been popular. It is forty days of denial of self, desires and personal ambition. It is forty days of introspection and meditation. It is forty days of preparing to live life on a higher plane of existence. None of these concepts is going to be popular, certainly not for forty days, all day every day. It is far easier to have a one-day holiday that annually requires more and more material goods for its observance. One can keep the fun and excitement going for months that way.
Lent is not about fun, or excitement. Lent is about taking a very long look at where one is with one’s life journey, and reassessing the map one is using. Lent serves to remind those who try to observe it that we are all just travelers here, passing through one station after another. Lent reminds us that it is wise to be packed and vigilant, ticket at the ready. One never knows when one is leaving.
That is why the colors of Lent are gray and then purple, as the ashes of repentance give way to the violet of patience. Lent calls us to be watchful and to stay the course, to strive for a greater life. Lent call us to deny obvious satisfactions and dare to embrace renewed desire for spiritual growth.

“Wish me well…” Ann Curry signed off this morning from her year-long stint as co-anchor on the Today Show.  I know I’m not alone in wishing her well, and I’m not alone in wanting to thank her for her unflagging zeal in getting to the heart of a story, her scrupulous efforts to be utterly factual, and her ebullient optimism concerning humanity.

The trash talking began as soon as any information about her position at Today became hints, then rumor, then outright speculation.  Throughout this gossip gantlet, Curry managed to focus on her daily duties and maintain a calm demeanor, exhibiting her hallmark professionalism.  To the last moment, she remained a class act.

So, thank you, Ann, for being there, early morning after early morning, for the fourteen years you put in at the news desk.  Thank you for the heart you showed, both in courage and kindness, in every difficult story, in every dangerous assignment.  Thank you for showing the world that not every American is shallow, vain or vapid — or blonde and blue-eyed, either.  Thank you for daring to be real on and off camera. Thank you for your smiles, tears, and sense of fun; we have no doubt that they were always genuine.  Thank you for being an advocate for the displaced, the disenfranchised, the marginalized everywhere. Thank you for your demands for truth and justice in every instance.

I wish you well, and above all, I wish you continued hope and heart and unwavering honesty, and success in all you do. I regret we only had one year of your contribution to the anchor desk, and I know you do, too. But I relish the thought of what you can really accomplish for the world with this new role, and I’m looking forward to seeing what you can teach us all.

It’s a pleasure to share the planet with you, Ann. 

Wish you well.

This is a promise I made to myself that I am keeping.  I have told myself, friends, and even casual acquaintances that “Yes, I am going to start a blog!  Soon, really soon…oh, this year, absolutely…”

And so, after two years of saying this, I am finally beginning this blog.  I still have no concept, no theme, no raison d’etre for this effort. I have decided to simply stay true to my email moniker, and be a real “muse-scribe”, reporting on the insights and news I am given by the universe.

I have NO idea what I am getting myself into.  (At this point, a smart organism would be searching for exits, or at least some higher point on the landscape.)  But now that I’m here, I suppose I shall have to do something about it.

So, please watch this space.  I will try to have something new on it at least once a week (oops, Promise #2!).  And that’s as much commitment as I want to make for today.

Anon, good folk,

Fletcher