i'm dying here...

November 19, 1979...almost thirty years ago today, I stopped smoking during the Great American Smokeout. This is the date I always remember, although I did have an episode in the mid 80's when I relapsed and smoked for 5 months. I did like smoking and only quit for two reasons. The primary reason was that cigarettes were going up from $.50 to $.65 and I thought that was just ridiculous!.. Yes the outrage of it all!!! The government was going to levy tobacco nearly 35% over night during a recession. Call me cheap but I have my principles and as my cousin Adrian in Toronto says, "that's where I cut the lawn!". So there!

The second reason was that I don't have a strong respiratory system. To begin with my mother smoked when she was pregnant with me, unless of course you asked her. She'd say she was a wonderful and kind and patient and loving and sweetheart to her children....oh excuse me, I'm dying here...cracking myself up....if any of you knew my mom...you'd need your ribs taped up right now. Where was I?...oh yea...I grew up in a home where my parents smoked multiple packs a day and N E V E R opened a window when they did, so of course it was a great place to practice deep breathing. :)

I'm posting these photos...the only ones I can find of me holding a cigarette. I did a lot of that. I liked holding them, lighting them, "packing" my cigs, putting them in my cigarette case, announcing that I was going out to catch a smoke...what I found was that, I used cigarettes to give myself some time for me. Everything was great about smoking, well except the cough...and eventually even the inhaling. I had an incessant cough towards the end and I had this very raspy throat all the time.


I'm dying here looking at this photo...it was taken after our final performance of Anything Goes, a musical comedy by Cole Porter. I guess we were so in need of drinks and cigarettes that we didn't even have time to take off our stage makeup?!! How about the poor gal next to me, trying to keep from having her hair set afire! OMG....yep...that's where I cut the lawn!