On Quitting
on 09/26/2007 at 06:34 AM
I smoked for a couple of years, but grew up with a mother who smoked. I suffer because of it, having COPD. Explain to a kid what its like to not be able to climb a short flight of stairs without huffing and puffing like you just sprinted a mile.
I was having lung problems as a young teen, before I picked up my first cancer stick. Most likely from moms smoking all the time.Mr. C - I agree. If cigs are so bad - ban ‘em - but they can’t/won’t - the habit brings in billions to Uncle Sugar and they are going to cut off a legal lotto avenue to help pad their budgets even more. And the ‘rules’ are beginning to get stupid and outright invasive. It is insanity at it’s utmost.
I never got that ‘stench’ deal either - I just noticed a smokey smell but it never seemed nasty to me. I was a light smoker (only went above a pack a week during my divorce). I quit a couple of times - for years. So yes I wasn’t physically addicted. I am an addictive personality though - it wasn’t until 1990 that I stumbled on the reason, quite by accident. Since 1985 I’ve stopped drinking and the smoking for good in 2003. Once you face the demons in your life - the rest is easy. [I keep telling all my children - they are only now starting to believe me].
My husband is the physical addict - he has been smoking forever. Now down to a pipe. And with all the new ‘rules’ it is just better for him all the way around. I keep hoping that he will turn that final corner but I won’t nag him about it. He’s come so far from his two packs a day.
The problem is that our days are already numbered - it is why my son survived a fatal burn and at almost the exact same time a healthy 22 year old (married with a new child) walked into his apartment after work and dropped dead. It is why I who am a medical trainwreck heading full speed toward the wall (after a couple of major track jumps) am still hanging on well and my brother who was always healthy as a horse died suddenly at 46 of a heart attack. . .
Just another way to let government invade our lives and make us pay for the pleasure.
