Today is a very important anniversary for me… Today marks six months since the last time I bought a pack of cigarettes… SIX MONTHS people. As someone who’s considered herself a smoker since the age of sixteen, about fourteen (yikes!) years, six months is a pretty big deal.
I feel odd saying that I’ve “quit” smoking, because I admit I indulge every once in awhile if I’m drinking and hanging out with a bad influence buddy (coughjohncough). But I definitely don’t consider myself a smoker anymore. Now I’m just one of those annoying sometimes smokers who supports her habit by bumming cigarettes off real smokers (like my brothers used to do to me, lol).
Naw, it’s not that serious. I can’t even remember the last time I had a cigarette… Probably the last time John was over, lol. It’s crazy to me that I’ve managed to completely eradicate something from my life that was so much a part of my identity for so long… And I didn’t need a patch or nicotine gum or anything – I just decided one day I was gonna quit and I did. And whaddaya know – this time it actually stuck.
I remember the exact moment it hit me that I’d crossed that line between ‘trying to quit’ and ‘actually quitting’. Lil Chris was in town for a visit, and we were bar hopping and getting wasted in downtown San Jose, just like the good ole college days… Lil Chris has also quit smoking, but you know, pour enough alcohol into us and we’re bound to suffer a relapse. So we both got a craving for a cigarette, and for the first time in over a decade, I didn’t have a cigarette on me. No pack in my purse, no emergency stash in the car, nada. That was a strange moment for me. Triumphant, but strange. I guess people really can change.
When I think about it, most of the friends I grew up smoking with have also quit… KC, DC, Lil Chris, Teener, Dena… It wasn’t always easy or pretty, but we are all proof that addictions don’t have to control you. You can conquer them and change your life. Here’s to healthy living ya’ll!
PS: Happy Mother’s Day to all you Moms out there… New Moms, Old Moms, Soon-to-be Moms, and especially MY Mom. 
You have the most important job on the planet, and thank you for doing it with so much selflessness and love…
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