You know how I was recently complaining, er, mentioning that February is technically the shortest month of the year but sort of feels like it lasts, oh, I don’t know, about a century, give or take a decade?

Well, I’m sticking with that whiny theme, my good peeps, as I dive headlong into Lent.

It officially kicked off this past week on what we Catholics refer to as “Ash Wednesday.” The sad truth is, we’re only a few days in and I’m being a total baby about it already.

Allow me to explain.

As many of you may know, Lent is the observation by many a good boy and girl — or at least, good in theory — to engage in self-sacrifice. As in “giving up” stuff we really, really dig for roughly a month and 10 days.

In other words, it’s that one time of year when all y’all and yours truly, natch, should start stopping, capisce?

Lent is sort of like a time out for misbehaving the rest of the year. In fact, I’ve come to think of it as the Big Guy’s way to telling us to man up.

Now, good ol’ Wikipedia describes Lent as the “solemn religious observance in the liturgical year commemorating the 40 days Jesus Christ spent fasting in the desert according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke” — and all of the nun / teachers at my Catholic grade school, by the by.

Technically speaking, Lent is a word derived from Latin — hey, aren’t they all? — that means “fortieth.” So that’s where the given amount of days came from, yo.

Anyway, Wiki further explained the purpose of Lent as “the preparation of the believer, through prayer, to practice ‘mortifying the flesh,’ repenting for sins, almsgiving, simple living and self-denial.”

Hey, I’m mortified by my flesh anytime I pass a mirror, not to mention (but I will) that the way me, myself and I trudge through life couldn’t be more rudimentary, but I digress.

Bottom line here is, if you really, truly want understand Lent, just ask one of us whiny Catholics. We’ll be sure to divulge every painstaking detail of what we’re giving up, why it’s such a burden and how incredibly pious we are for partaking in the whole not partaking.

To illustrate, allow me to reiterate the same conversation my favorite (and only) sister Gina and I engage in like clockwork every year as Lent commences.

“How many meals have you eaten so far?”

“One, how about you?”

“Two and it’s not even noon yet!”

“We’re never gonna make it to midnight!”

Suffice it to say, we weren’t meant for “Survivor” or one of those other yucky programs that drops people into the wild to survive on tree bark.

Ah well, have a blessed Lent, anyway, everybody!

Contact Kimerer at pkimerer@zoominternet.net with ideas about what she ought to give up for Lent … like complaining about Lent.