It’s close to a month Give that quitter a gold star
January 24th, 2008, 4:10 am Hobby Shops
I picked up the terribly exciting hobby of needlepoint, only because it gives me something to do with my hands other than sticking lighted tobacco in my mouth. One night, desperately wanting a cigarette, I worked on a needlepoint project for three hours. I haven’t picked up a cigarette in more than 20 days. I haven’t bought a pack of cigarettes in about a month. Considering I smoked nearly a pack a day before I quit, those two statements are major accomplishments. Hooray for me! They say it takes 30 days to make or break a habit. It has been exactly 27 days today since my quit date, and I am still going. I actually consider myself a nonsmoker now, a name I wear on my psyche like a golden star on my sweater that I got from my favorite kindergarten teacher. At Thanksgiving dinner with my family, my dad told my 15-year-old nephew, the one who has been bugging me to quit since he could talk, that I finally did it. Unimpressed as 15-year-olds often are, he said, “Gee, I’ve been telling her to do that for how long?” OK, I get it. This quitting thing has been a long time coming. Smoking-cessation experts say that in about six to eight weeks after quitting, not smoking becomes much easier. I have been looking forward to many things about quitting smoking. Easy is sounding good at this point, especially since my nose still burns when I spray the nicotine replacement nasal spray up it for the umpteenth time. But when I think about it, many things have become easier. It is easier to drive places without having a cigarette. It is easier to go out at night with friends without having a cigarette. It is even easier to be around people who smoke because, boy, do they reek. The support I have gotten through this process has been amazing. Loraine from 1-800-NO-BUTTS still calls to check up on me, nearly a month into it. I still get e-mails from people who have quit successfully. And as I interviewed some of those people, I nearly cried as they told me their stories. No matter what they went through — frustration, gained weight, etc. — they were all incredibly happy. I actually saw a twinkle in Raymond “Keith” Charleston’s eyes when he talked about how great quitting was for his relationship with his young grandson. Perhaps most moving for me was sitting at Crockett, Calif., resident Nancy Wheeler’s table and gabbing like teens about quitting as if we were gabbing over great shopping deals. It just so happened she quit about the same time as I did, so we immediately had something in common. “Do you have crazy vivid dreams now?” she asked me. I do. (It’s a side effect of some of the nonsmoking drugs.) “Can you smell it on others now?” I asked her. She can. She wrote me after our meeting asking if I wanted to spend our year anniversary of quitting together. We’ll do it smoke-free, but, I have to say, champagne will be involved. Laura Casey can be reached at lcasey@bayareanewsgroup.com. PHOTOS.COM
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