Contemplating Lent

I am just an hour shy of the official start of Lent. I am desperate to feel like I am an active participant, and capable of....wait, I'm being interrupted by a Hillary Clinton speach...I have to listen to this. "You're ready for a president to bring YOUR values, YOUR family, YOUR country, YOUR" something, something, yadda, yadda. Hmm...Ok, standing on the precipice of Lent, I'll be charitable.
I digress...I feel as though I am always coming up short in the penance department. Willpower is just not my strong point. And I'm feeling a little hypocritical as I am pretty rigid when it comes to insisting on the kids doing something penitential.
I spoke with them weeks ago...right after Christmas in fact. Preparing them ahead of time that Lent was coming early this year. I asked Noah this evening what he was going to do to prepare for Easter. He tried to pull this "um...I want to keep it to myself, I don't want to go around telling everyone, and I don't want it to be a horrible time.
Oh.