A Month Of Thankfulness...Day Twenty-Four

Day 24 of thankfulness: Today, I am grateful for the doctor working in the ER Department nine years ago that told me if I didn't stop smoking I would have to carry around an oxygen tank for the rest of my life. As a smoker, I had chronic bronchitis, cleared my throat all the time and every morning spent ten or so minutes trying to cough up my lungs. I was a two-pack-a-day smoker and spent what now seems like most of my day with a live flame four inches from my face. I enjoyed smoking--the socialness of it--at least it was social in the beginning. When I started smoking, you could smoke most anywhere. By the time I quit in 2006, you couldn't smoke anywhere, even outside in some locations. We smoked on the way to dinner. We smoked before, during, and after dinner. We smoked on the way home from dinner. No wonder a lot of smokers are so thin; they smoke a cigarette instead of eating the smoked salmon. At least I did, anyway. That doctor wrote me a prescription for the medication Chantix which I'd heard about. So, I smoked a few cigarettes on Thanksgiving with my Aunt Phyllis outside at Mom's house and told her of my plan. She wished me good luck and on Black Friday I laid down the cigarettes for good. That was nine years ago. (I did cheat two times, once on the 4th day and another on the 12th day.) I'm grateful for being a non-smoker, so if you want to give it a try, why not start on Black Friday; it worked for me. I'll be seeing Aunt Phyllis on Thanksgiving; she's trying to quit smoking too. I'll remind her of our conversation and wish her the same. Good luck, Aunt Phyllis! We're pulling for you.