I have smoked my last cigarette

Saturday morning about 9 a.m., I smoked my last cigarette. I still have one cigarette in the box, but I’m holding onto that one. But as of now, I am a non-smoker. I’m putting this in print so it’ll be a little hard for me to back out. Brave, crazy, whatever, I need this to be the ‘sealed deal’ there’s no turning back.

I’ve been a smoker, on-and-off, since I was fifteen years old. Ironically, the same age my son, Logan, is turning on Monday. That’s over twenty years of battling the cigarette. For twenty years the cigarettes have been a constant in my life. The ashtrays, the empty cigarette boxes on the car floor, the burn holes, the stains, and the list goes on. For a good portion of my life, I’ve had a cigarette burning in my hand.

So here it is… I’ve made the decision to quit smoking. It really is an easy choice, but sometimes hard to stick with. The last time I went to buy cigarettes for myself and Dale, I almost had a stroke over the price. When I told Dale the price when I got home, he said that he was done smoking and was quitting. It was getting crazy expensive. And he meant it…. Dale hasn’t had a cigarette since last weekend. I’m so proud of him.

I had said at the same time that I was going to quit also. But obviously I wasn’t doing quite as well as Dale. Whenever I was away from him, I’d smoke a cigarette. It’s easy when I’m around him and he’s not smoking. Just being in his presence made me stop and think before I did the usual ‘habit’ of lighting up. That’s the key right there, the habit part.

I think that’s the part that scares me, just how ‘habitual’ it is for me. Believe or not, I was having a hard time driving because it seemed so ‘wrong’ without a cigarette. Those are the things, the habits, the constants that will be difficult to break.

So, here I am folks, attempting a kinda of a do-or-die fashion. I’m making my plight public, so if you see me in town square trying to smoke a cigarette, call me on it. If you want to send me words of encouragement, that would be cool too. This will probably be one of my mightiest battles, but it’s one I will win.

I have to go ahead and apologize upfront right now, for any cranky moments that might come in the next few weeks of the non-smoking transition.