Well it's time....

1000 words this picture says it all.

I couldn't have said it better.

Smoking stinks! Also as Steve has pointed out it kills.

so what do you think Imurf?

Such a great accomplishment! Now let me share a story...
My husband and I decided to go to lunch. He asked me to pick him up, so I drove our new van (which still had that great new car smell) Unbeknownst to me, he had invited a friend. All is well, we go to lunch, enjoy our time, good food, etc. The friend goes outside for some "fresh air", and we pay for lunch. As we get in our new car...with the smoker friend, I can hardly breathe!!! The smell of his cigarette habit took over the sweet smell of new car in my van!!!
Thankfully, the new car smell returned after I dropped them off at work.

The point of my story is, SMOKING STINKS!!!!

Steve,
That is awesome. You must be past the urge and thrilled with yourself for doing this. Stick with it.
Dulio

will be 1 year!!!! for me!!!

Am really proud of both of you for stickin it out. I am at 2 1/2 years as it goes by so fast. Really does stink when someone comes in from outside smelling like an ashtray. Glad you had the will power to fight through it. Keep those positive thoughts. Something you thought you could never do in a gazillion years, has become a reality and you are loving every minute of it. Your Profession, your family, and your friends are all benefiting from your strong will power. Do not give in... Do not give in... Do not give in...
Dulio79

I had a bad moment yesterday. I have my work's corporate credit card on my Paypal account as a convenience. I made a several thousand dollar purchase Wednesday afternoon. I see the PayPal receipt yesterday morning and I realized that I had charged my personal bank account instead of the corporate card. I felt that need for a few seconds and entertained the thought, but quickly dropped it. A little while back I might have smoked a pack in about 15 minutes after doing that one.

I got work to reimburse me this AM, so all is good.

I am still good, but still jonesing from time to time....Homecoming was tough but I made it thru, and I am still really thankful that so far I have kicked that nasty habit, when I smell people's breath or their ora of smoke, it is disgusting and I am SOOO glad I don't smell like that anymore. Also I made a lady laugh at the Business Expo yesterday and she went into a full blown coughing fit....again, I am reminded of WHY I quit. Good Job Clay, i know it's not easy, but if we got this far it would be foolish to go back, and at homecoming I met people....Jason Teche' etc. who quit for 2 years and went back.....That will not be me. I am DONE.

...are we all doing on this. I'm coming up on 7 months smoke free.

BTW quitting smoking meant that the rising gas prices didn't hurt as much....BONUS!!!

Linda,
Very proud of you. Keep up the fight. It has been 2 1/2 years for me, and for some reason I had a bad craving today for one. It might have been nerves as I was going into an important meeting. But I kept thinking positive about how its been 2 1/2 years, and how bad it would choke me, and how bad i would smell going into the meeting. I fought it off, because I don't want to smoke anymore. Stay strong, we are all proud of what you are accomplishing.
Dulio

smoke free!!! It is still a struggle, but there is a reason for that...but I have stayed strong and not caved not once!!! I have wanted to and tried, but didn't, the funny thing is now it is my clean teeth that i don't want the tar to stain up, and I know just one would. it's silly but true!

thank you, and please, you've had enough on your own plate to worry about that!
This has been a sad season of death, strangely, it seems like a lot of people have lost loved ones recently.

to Chuck, and know that they are with you and your entire family as well.

How insensitive of me, I'm sorry!

and to you Amy, I know things have been rough. As I shared with Amy, two weeks ago yesterday Chuck's grandmother passed away (ironically, also from lung cancer)...her diagnosis was only confirmed at Christmas...and she was gone all too quickly. You don't need more reasons to NOT smoke...don't do it for anybody else but yourself and your children.

I am so proud of all of you for sticking with it!!!

To you Joyce and your family and Bob, to you and yours as well. You are all in my prayers.

enough reasons to NOT SMOKE i don't know what is!!!!!! Common people lets be strong!!! This is not how i want my family to see my last days, and not how i want to go out of this world.

That is terrible. I am so sorry to hear that. I am glad Gills that she is in Heaven and at the feet of God, and Joyce I hope the same for your Uncle.

I am sorry for you loss as well, I do not know you but we are all one family here and I will keep you and your family in my prayers as well.

I am sorry for your loss, I will keep you and your family in my prayers. I to had a loss in my family my grandmother passed away on Mothers Day she was 84 she had cancer and there really wasnt much we could do for her but keep her comfortable as possible. I know that she is in a much better place at peace with no more pain.

Again I am sorry for the loss in your family

Last Wednesday I found out my Uncle passed away after complications he had during surgery on Good Friday ( how's that for irony?). He had been in the hospital since March 19th, he was having surgery to have a long time hernia removed, that had protruded through his abdominal wall. The last time I talked to him was that Monday before he went into the hospital, he called me just about every other night before then, because he was in the process of going to court to get gaurdianship over my Grandmother, because she has early onset Dementia, and she can no longer function normally by herself, or drive, or pay bills, or sign any legal documents because she can't remember how to write her name anymore. He would call me to let me know what was going on with the process, and everything that he had to do for the surgery, and what I should expect. He put off having the surgery until my Aunt Chris (my granmother's sister) could fly up from Florida to stay with my Grandmother and take care of her. He only planned on being in the hospital anywhere from a week to 10 days. He scheduled a court hearing for May 7th to take gaurdianship over my grandmother before he went into the hospital.
Some time had gone by, and then I recieved in the mail an envelope from the Attorney that was overseeing the case for my grandmother, with all the information in it and what was going to happen, and as I'm reading through it, I see a document in there showing that my Aunt Chris filed for immediate temporary gaurdianship over my grandmother, because my Uncle Joe was in the hospital in the ICU from complications he had during the surgery. I was so upset that NO ONE called me and told me any of this, I had to find it out through court papers. I called up to Long Island that night to find out what was going on, and my Aunt Chris told me what had happened, and that they weren't holding out any hope for him to pull through this. My Uncle Joe's kidney's had shut down, and his liver failed after the complications from the surgery (he got a blood infection after the surgery). His left lung then collasped, and they put him on a ventilator. About a week ago, they transfered him to a hospital out in Manhattan to see if they could do a liver transplant for him, but the doctors didn't think was strong enough to handle the operation, they called my grandmother, and my Aunt in for a meeting last Monday, and told them they wanted to take my Uncle off the sedation, and the ventilator long enough to let him come to, and ask him if he wanted them to continue what they were doing, and if he wanted any to use any extreme measures to keep him alive, he said no, and they issued a DNR that day. They took him off the ventilator to see if he would be able to breath on his own, he was doing good through Tuesday, but his heart rate was really weak. On Wednsday, the day of the court hearing, my Aunt and my Grandmother were in the parking lot of the court house getting ready to walk in, and my Aunt gets a call on her cell phone telling her my Uncle Joe passed away at 9:30am that morning, (how is that for more irony?). They had to go into the court hearing with that over their heads. This is the second child (out of 3) my grandmother had to watch die in less then 2 years. My Uncle Kevin passed away from Lymphoma on Thanksgiving Day in 2006.
They had the funeral/memorial service (he was cremated) on Mother's Days, so that is where we were this past weekend, and how I spent my Mother's Day.

I have had cravings for a cigarette since last Wednesday, I ALMOST went out and bought a pack of cigarettes on Wednesday night, and I haven't bought a pack of cigarettes in YEARS. I havne't done it though, because I can't stand the smell of cigarette smoke, or stand the smell of it on my hands afterwards, but that craving is still there.

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family at this time.

Jordan and Casey's Aunt passed this morning at 7 a.m. I have to go home and give them the news. They weren't even able to visit with her since they found out she had the cancer, which they were planning on doing this weekend. I can't tell you how totally heart broken I am for my children. Also, she refused God, even up until her death, this too will be an everlasting void for them.

Please keep the kids, and the family in your prayers through this time.

as far as class rings - my wife lost mine when we were dateing - replaced in 2000 - it fit real good (different size). My wedding ring - i haven't even tryied it on since 91 (until last week) - got cut on the ring finger and they almost had to cut it off (the ring) instead i pulled it off and that made me get 2 stitches because i made the cut bigger (metal was still in it). With all the weight that i have lost (broke 195 this week) my class ring now falls off and wedding ring fits (if it wasn't for the scar tissue i would wear it all the time - but it makes the finger itch.)

Once i hit goal wieght of 180 - going to stop smoking again - but don't want to even try until i get the wieght were i want it... Everyone i know that has quit gains between 10-20 pounds in the first 3-6 months after quitting. and my luck - would gain the 20+ pounds right back (or 2x faster then i lost it)
also sorry i can't give you any insight on how to keep from gaining the weight once you stop smoking (execpt to say chewing on toothpicks is the only thing i can think of doing that doesn't add inches) but thats just changing one nasty habbit for another one....
Again Good luck with stop smoking and the weight - hope you can quit the one with out effecting the other....

I even had to squeeze my class ring on to come to the ASD. Even though I'd like to lose the few pounds I haven't had the energy to get up and do it. I think even my wife is trying to make me fatter. When she buys me clothes she knows what size I wear but she will buy the next size up. I don't even wear a belt much anymore because I keep pinching my belly with the belt buckle.I really have gone up 2 inches in waist size since I quit smoking. So by losing 20 lbs I may make it back one size.

I had this conversation with my father a few days ago, because my Grandmother whom is 74 years of age and already has early onset dementia. He layed into me about the things that we do to our bodies, and that my Granmother's lifestyle while she was young and in her 30's and 40's has contributed to her condition today. He told me, we only have ONE body, and what we do to it while we are in our 20's 30's and 40's, we will have to live with it when we are in our 60's 70's and 80's and on. He said, we may feel great at 20 years old drinking and smoking, and eating whatever we want, but when you turn 40 years old and have a heart attack, and you wonder why, he said, stop and think about what you did to your body 20 years before that. My brother Ryan is going to Med school, he's in his mid 20's and eats horribly, my father looked at him, and said, for someone that is going to med school, you of all people should know what you are eating now, you will live with when you're 60 years old. My father smokes, (or used to smoke) i'm not sure if he still does, but I know that he's very active, he was in Taekowndo for 15 years, he's going to be 58 years old in July, and he's still 132 pounds, and a 30 inch waist (he's only 5'5") When he was in his 30's he had high blood pressure and ulcers in his stomach, that's when he made the decision to change his life, becuase he knew whatever he did to his body then he would have to life with for the rest of his life. I quit smoking for the most part (I smoke every now and again, but never make it a habit again), and he said, even though you quit smoking now, you can still get lung cancer 20 years from now. If reality didn't set in for me at that point, I don't know what would have.
My father told me I was an uptight person, ( I have to say it has to come from his side of the family). and I need to learn to relax, because stress, can make us do things and pick up habits that we know we should not be doing. I know when I stress, I crave a cigarette like crazy. He told me, I need to learn to identify my stressors in my life, and figure out a ways to deal with them. He told me I should do some Yoga, and deep breathing, Massage, etc, etc. If only I had the time to do it.
My father is a massage therapist, and an EMT, my brother is in Med. school so between the both of them, I should be able to learn all kinds of ways to deal with stress.

You def. do NOT need to loose 20-25 pounds...dude, you are already a thin man, really now. and secondly, we did not smoke because i quit smoking before the ASD, we quit in January...that was our first real good challenge of being "out" at a club or something, I had quit once before for three months and at Homecoming while "out" for the evening, i started up again...so this time i was really careful.

I noticed when we were out after the ASD that you or Markus didn't smoke , or at least around me. I wasn't paying much attention I guess was Champions smoke free? Anyhow I smoked for 23 years at usually a carton a week. When I smoked if it wasn't down to the filter I wasn't done yet. I quit in January 1999. Where I worked we had 25 employees and 4 of us smoked. The company decided they wanted everyone to be smoke-free but didn't want to force it on us. So the beginning of December 98 they asked us 4 if we would be interested in hypnotist to help quit and we all agreed. A few weeks before I quit I tried to slow myself down to 1 smoke per hour, and if i was busy at work and missed that hour it was just that much closer to quiting. So I actually got down to a pack a week before going to the class to be hypnotized. Out of the 4 of us 2 where still smoking the next day. The other one started smoking again after about a year. I just realized it doesn't seem like it has been 9 years already. I'm not totally convinced the hypnotist was the real factor in my quiting. The thing that really encouraged me to quit was the cost. I know the price was up to $2.00 per pack, so that meant I would save $80 - $100 per month by not smoking. Now I am saving even more I know. So that year I bought my first Jeep and used that cigarette money towards part of my monthly payment. So now instead of having a smoking problem I have a Jeep problem. The reason I say that is, I have my 3rd Jeep since I quit. I am not one to go around preaching to others about smoking. Those that want to quit will find a reason and it will happen. When I quit one of the hard parts was I was on a bowling team, which meant there are a lot of smokers and the temptation would be there. So with me quiting during bowling season I learned to be comfortable around smokers. I guess I just became a second hand smoker. One of the amazing things is when you are out at a club or something as a non smoker when you get up the next day you can still smell the smoke on the clothes you were wearing the night before. Then I realize that is how I use to smell all the time. I gained 40 pounds since I quit. A few people on here may remember seeing me at the ASD. So I am not saying I am fat , but I am heavier than I was when I quit and would like to lose 20 - 25 lbs to be healthier. I was going to try to do that this year but that hasn't happened yet.

Linda,

I quit 6 weeks ago. I quit for 6 months once and 8 months another time. Each time it was that "I can have one" thinking that got me. Those dreams are going to happen. Do your best and stay strong, and you can't have any, not even one.