Good morning, Netizens...

 

Hey, it's day nine... nine days since I last had a cigarette, but I have to admit it all comes at a price. The patch is the only thing that has made this change tolerable, but I am having wildly-unpredictable dreams when I sleep, and there is the always-present urge to have a cigarette, although that does seem to be slowly receding, thank God! My saintly wife informed me yesterday of the amount of money ($40-plus a week) I have saved by not smoking, and I have to admit, I did not miss having the money until it suddenly appeared after not smoking. It is the first time you'll hear me bitch about having more money than usual. Yes, Jeanie, there is not a day goes by but what I want a damned cigarette.

 

I have come to grips with both the addiction to nicotine and the habit of smoking. Perhaps worse than the addiction are the places and times when I instinctively reach for a cigarette, such as sitting down at the computer and writing something or after having a meal. I have always had a pack of smokes handy whenever I am writing, because that is my habit. The nicotine patch lessens the addiction by substituting the addiction to cigarettes by giving you your nicotine another way, but the habit of reaching for a cigarette may never die, I am told by others who have successfully quit the habit.

 

Last evening, my neighbor who traditionally is broke but still has a fierce addiction to nicotine came by to try and purchase a few cigarettes to “tide her over”, as in the past I have done what I thought was my part to help her out by donating to her cause. The look on her face when I told her neither I nor my stepson have cigarettes, that we no longer allow cigarettes in our household was sad to see. After forty-some years of living with an addiction, I ought to know the feeling pretty well.

 

Dave

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