Smoking

I recently browsed through some very old pictures of Terri and I just after we were married. We both quit smoking years ago, so it was somewhat shocking to see us with cigarettes. It got me thinking about how I started smoking and how the perception of smoking has changed over the years.

I started smoking very early. I was a paperboy delivering the Sunday edition to all customers in a certain apartment complex. I would stash my smokes under a flap of carpet under a stairwell in one building. Every week I would visit my stash for a couple of cigarettes. Obviously I was not hooked since my habit was a once a week vice.

Habitual smoking began once I became a cook at Red Lobster. I was only 17 or so, and most of my co-workers were much older. Mny of them smoked, so they took smoke breaks. I did not smoke, so I did not get breaks. It did not seem fair, so I started smoking and taking breaks. Absolutely BRILLIANT! Little did I know that stupid decision would haunt me for years to come.

Almost as soon as I was hooked, I began attempts to quit. I probably quit a hundred times before I actually quit. One memorable attempt was just after Terri found out she was pregnant with our oldest daughter Lyndy. We decided to quit while on a car trip to Memphis. Bad decision. Nicotine with drawl hit before we reached St. Louis. Two people quitting in the same car for 10 hours is not the best environment for success. We were just outside of West Memphis when Terri could not take any more of my whining and made me stop and buy a pack. She continued her effort to quit and in fact ended her habit on that attempt.

With Terri an ex-smoker and a baby on the way, my smoking habits changed. I no longer smoked in the house. I would only smoke outside, at work or in the garage, and remained under those constraints until eventually completely quitting years later.

Before I successfully quit, I tried every method available at the time. I tried gum, Nicorette, candy, a pipe, and cold turkey. Stop smoking aids only eased the withdrawal, but do not make a person want to quit. Wanting to quit is the key to success. It was not until I committed to quitting that I was successful. I remember the turning point. I had laid off the cigarettes for about a week but was having a massive urge for a smoke. I had just about convinced myself to go to the store for a pack when I stopped, summoned every ounce of will power I had, and forcefully denied the urge. It was the last massive urge I experienced. I continued to get the urge for several more weeks, but the magnitude began to diminish and they were easier to ignore.

Recently a couple of people on my staff were successful in quitting. During their ordeal, I would advise them that today they wouldn't be able to stop smoking for their entire lifetime. They can only stop for today. If they just could make it through today, then they could try again tomorrow. Each day would get a little easier until they wouldn't think about it again. Both stopped. One did so cold turkey. The other stopped with the aide of an electronic cigarette, which he is now addicted to.

These two are now part of the norm. Most people today do not smoke. It has become far to inconvenient and costly. That was not always true. I remember the day when you could smoke on an airplane. Places of business were equipped with ashtrays since most workers smoked.

Terri and I watch Mad Men, a story of Madison avenue advertising firm set back in the early 1960's. The distinction between those times and today could not be more vivid. We almost become offended by the characters who smoke so much and in any situation. And it's just a TV show! It is like our last vacation in North Carolina, a state that is protective and proud of their tobacco crop. We walked through an indoor shopping mall and were surprised at the number of people who carried lit cigarettes. We had not seen that in Kansas City for over 10 years!

Also incredible to me is the cost of cigarettes. When I quit, a pack was less than $2. I see that a pack goes for around $5, even higher in some areas. At a cost of $2,000 per year per pack smoked each day, you could pay for the catastrophic health insurance policy they may need.

Today, smokers are relegated to common ash cans a few feet away from the building they work. I wonder how they stand the zero degree temperatures just for a few puffs on a cigarette. The number of public places that allow smoking is falling at an accelerating rate. That is good. I have heard all the arguments on how smoking restrictions are taking liberties from Americans. I just don't buy it. A smoker's rights end at the tip of another person's nose. Smoking does not only impact the smoker. If it did, then I would agree with the argument.

I have been a non-smoker for a long time and have not had the urge to smoke for years. Yet, I still sometimes smoke in my dreams. It is a weird feeling to find myself in that half awake, half asleep state, feeling guilty that I had smoked, and hoping that Terri can't smell it on me.