It's My Anniversary!!

Today is the fourth anniversary of being smoke free!!! Quitting smoking is one of my proudest achievements and I am so happy and grateful I was able to do it. Now some food for thought..

1. Four smoke free years comes to 1,461 smoke free days (there was a Leap Year in there).
2. I smoked about 1.5 packs of cigarettes a day so that comes to 43,830 cigarettes I DIDN'T SMOKE. Wow I had to run that through my calculator twice....that is a HUGE number. My lungs must be doing the Teaberry Shuffle!!
3. Let's average $3.50 a pack for cigarettes and see what kind of number we come up with ...Oh My God....it is $7,670.25. Now I know how come I have the money to go on 11 week vacations!!! Wow! Hey, Heather and Nikki.....the shopping spree makes a lot more sense now doesn't it?? I'm glad you didn't see that number before we went!!

Smoking is not an easy habit to break and I was able to do it for one simple reason. I really, really wanted to quit. I had reached the point where my desire to NOT smoke was greater than my desire TO smoke. I didn't do it "cold turkey", I used the patch and carried around polished rocks to play with. Whatever..it worked!!

So many states are passing laws making many public places non-smoking and lots of smokers are angry about their freedom to smoke disappearing. I understand how they feel but I have noticed that smokers are far from free.....they are imprisoned by their addiction to nicotine. They are always noticing...where can I go feed my addiction, where are the ashtrays, where can I go to SMOKE??? Those factors are taken into consideration for EVERY decision they make with regard to where they go or if they will go someplace. Does that sound like freedom to you??

Ok, I admit it....I can be one of those "pain in the ass" former smokers!!

Anyway I want to take this opportunity to apologize to everyone that I made endure stinky, smokey air and clothes during my 40 years as a smoker, especially my children. I am truly sorry...I just didn't realize how disgusting it is.