And If Thine Eye Offend Thee ...

See, my son has given up candy for Lent. He's been a real trooper, too, and eats the replacement cookies without so much as a whimper. Brave lad.

Until today.

I come into the room, and see him quickly whip something behind his back. One raised eyebrow later, he showed me his contraband: a canister of Paint Spray Liquid Candy. Seeing his abashed and guilty look, I opened my mouth to say that he wasn't in trouble with me, as this wasn't something I had told him not to do ... then I saw the tears in his eyes.

Tears. Now, although I'm raising my kids Catholic, if the guilt inherent to the religion is causing actual emotional pain, then there's clearly a problem somewhere ... Then I see the faint blue mark between his eyes.

In his fervor and excitement about putting one over on me and God, he'd effectively maced himself.