Wow, do you still smoke?

[BDuke]

Stood behind a guy in line at the grocery store the other day. He bought a pack of cigarets, $10.23 USD. Holy moly! If that's not incentive to quit, I don't know what is. Near $3900 per year at a pack a day. Not to mention that I quit about 30 years ago (when you could buy a carton of ten packs for less than $4), and my doctor said, paraphrasing, "that was probably the most important decision you ever made for your overall health". Point being, if you wanted to quit, now is the time; if not, so be it. Stepping off of soap box now, and as always, YMMV.

 

When I was 10 my best friend and I made a pact to never start smoking even standing up to a lot of peer pressure. 58 years later I am so glad we did that together.

[Karloff]

When I was 10 my best friend and I made a pact to never start smoking even standing up to a lot of peer pressure. 58 years later I am so glad we did that together.

 

[jdgm]

A pack of 20 over here is £11.00. They were £00.40 when I started....

 

Yes. You may as well set fire to your tenner. It's healthier.

 

I smoked for over 40 yrs so the damage must be done.

After the 1st 15 yrs I cut down a lot (one cig made 2 doobs) and then a lot more....er...I didn't smoke cigarettes, catch my drift?

 

What started it was my Dad smoking - he smoked 20 or more Players Navy Cut per day, these were untipped cigarettes and (along with Senior Service) one of the strongest brands you could buy in UK.

One of my older sisters still smokes.

 

This afternoon I visited an old friend who I met at school in 1969; he has terminal stomach cancer and is shockingly thin, just skin and bone.

Yet he still smokes - why not, now it can't do him any worse harm - and insisted I sit with him in the back porch while he puffed away.

 

I helped him with his schoolwork.

I got him a job where I worked, later on. Nice guy but always out for what he could get out of you, me, anyone.

And after he was terribly injured in a car accident (completely his own fault unfortunately, ruined his life) I was there to help look after him, drive him round, take him to gigs and much more.

Someone had to - that went on for years and years.

But I can't help him now.

 

In February another friend from the same era died of cancer after a long battle and having beaten it the 1st time. He never stopped smoking until it came back.

At his funeral they played songs by Nickel Creek, a band I saw with him in London not that long ago. I cried.

 

While you are young you can make the decision to do or not to do something; eventually (and perhaps consequentially) you may not have that luxury of choosing any more.

 

Best wishes to all.