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Mrs-M
2-5-11, 11:04am
Last night while over visiting family the topic of smoking came up and it got me to thinking... How many of you (as kids) grew up in a smoking family/home? Both parents? One parent? Did it effect you in any way such as chronic bronchitis, ear infections, etc?

freein05
2-5-11, 12:01pm
Both of my parents smoked. My mother smoked until she died at the age of 83. My dad quit smoking about 15 years before he died at the age of 84. He quit when the government started taxing cigarettes too much.

goldensmom
2-5-11, 12:22pm
My father smoked cigarettes. The worst time was when we were going someplace in the car. I remember my eyes burning and having difficulty breathing. He gave no thought to children or non-smokers, his opinion was 'it's my right to smoke anywhere and anytime'. Not sure about the health aspect but my attitude from that experience is that I am adamantly against one smoking in the presence of non-smokers. He smoked a pipe in later years and that did not bother me so much but I don't know why.

When in early elementary school, for Father's day we made ash trays for dad and for Mother's Day I can't remember what we made but it was not an ash tray.

Tweety
2-5-11, 1:21pm
Both of my parents were heavy smokers. The worst was when we were driving somewhere in a carfull of smoke, it made me carsick every time! Back then nearly everybody smoked, you couldn't escape it. I ended up developing emphysema, probably due to inhaling secondhand smoke from the day they brought me home from the hospital.
I am SO glad that smokers are few and far between now, my throat clenches up whenever I get a whiff of that disgusting smell! Do smokers realize how really bad they stink?

loosechickens
2-5-11, 3:12pm
Both my parents smoked, all their friends smoked.......and I started smoking as a young teenager, myself. I smoked until I was 26 years old, and had two children. I saw an anti-smoking commercial on TV with a father and a young son. They were walking in the woods and beside a pond. Everything the father did, the little kid tried to imitate. If the father skipped a stone across the pond, the little boy picked up a stone and tried to do it, too. Then the father sat down with his back to a tree trunk, and pulled a cigarette out of his pocket. The little kid sat down, propped up by his own tree, and looked around him, picked up a little stick and pretended to smoke it, just like his Dad.

That commercial hit me like a ton of bricks. It was the sixties by then and word had managed to get out to most about the harmful effects of smoking. The realization that I was a poor role model for my children hit me SO hard, that I stopped smoking, cold turkey that day. I've often wished I had a way to let the people who made that commerical know how effective it had been, for at least one person.

In the end, despite my efforts, since I was not the only influence in life on my kids, I now have a daughter who smokes and a son who chews tobacco and has, since he played sports and picked up the habit imitating sports heroes. But, at least, I was not the poor role model that they followed.

My father eventually managed to quit in his early sixties, but it was too late, and he died from small oat cell lung cancer, which is heavily associated with smoking. My mother had a heart attack in her early seventies, and finally quit smoking then, because she had to use oxygen for several years, but then lived healthily for almost another twenty years without incident, and keeled over and was gone in a few minutes without any illness, when she was 91 years old.

I developed asthma in my middle age, but it seems to be associated more with mold allergies, but perhaps early exposure to lots and lots of smoke may have weakened my lungs to some degree. They are definitely the Achille's heel of my body these days.

My sweetie smoked from college until about fifteen years ago. Once in awhile for the first year or so after he quit, he would "sneak" a smoke, and was always amazed that I knew. Of course, he didn't realize that he walked around in that six foot circle of stench that identifies a smoker to nonsmokers, and was mystified that every time, I knew he had sneaked one.

I think that smokers are like the people who wear heavy perfume or use heavily scented laundry products. Their own noses become accustomed to the smell and so don't register it, and they have no idea how terrible they smell to people whose noses haven't been atrophied by overuse of scents.

peggy
2-5-11, 3:31pm
Both my parents smoked, and all 4 of us kids smoked, starting in our teens. Now every one of us, including my parents who are both still living, have quit smoking. It's been about 23 years for me. Was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, and I am grateful everyday that I quit.
No, smokers don't know how bad they stink. You don't realize until you have quit.

pinkytoe
2-5-11, 4:03pm
Both of my parents smoked and most of my friends in high school back in the 60s-70s did too. I recall ashtrays were a regular fixture in most people's homes. I started sneaking cigarettes around 14 and smoked about a half pack a day until I turned 44 (12 yrs ago) except for abstaining during and right after pregnancy. It was always something I was very shameful of so I never smoked around my daughter or other people; I would always smoke outside. Today, I can spot or smell a smoker right away. Not only do they smell bad, but they also have an unhealthy looking pallor to their eyes and skin and almost always dark circles under their eyes. I am so regretful that I ever smoked but glad I was able to give it up with absolutely no desire to return. Both of my parents died of smoking, drinking related illesses in their late 60s. I am hopeful that I don't have any lasting damage - nothing apparent at this time.

HappyHiker
2-5-11, 4:35pm
Both my parents smoked,my mom until she died (80) and my father smoked into his 50's. All 3 kids smoked, all of us quit.

And yes, I did have lots of childhood illnesses--strep throat, scarletina, and frequent flu and colds. I remember jabs with a big needle in my rear--penicillin?

The smoke bothered me..I often went up to my bedroom and closed the door and read to get away from it...my parents wondered why I wasn't in the living room watching TV with them in the smoked-filled room...yet, I myself smoked for 20 years--did I get addicted in the womb?

Zigzagman
2-5-11, 7:45pm
My Dad smoked "Lucky Strikes" all his life until his death. He was a career Army guy and was introduced by C-Rations at the end of WWII as a 17 year old. For those that never saw it - they had little 4-5 cigarette packs as part of the rations. My Mom (still alive) never smoked and would give us kids hell if she caught us.

I started smoking when I was just a teen while working as a laborer (plumber's helper - that translate to digging ditches with a sharp shooter - no ditch witch in those days) and continued for almost 25 years. After my Dad's death, which I really do believe was tobacco related, I quit smoking. I haven't smoked in almost 20 years - except for pot. Ironically, I can remember plugging the cigarette machine as a kid with a quarter and a dime for a pack. Then it went to 50 cents per pack - then 75 cents and so on. I heard from a neighbor the other day that cigarettes were now about 50 dollars a carton.

Not to defer from the subject, but Cigarettes are just another example of "bidness" being able to market their trash even if it has been proven deadly.

I smoke to get high - not to die!!! :cool:

Peace

fidgiegirl
2-5-11, 10:25pm
My dad is a smoker and has since he was 12. He is now 60.

As a child, particularly as a teen, I would get a lot of sinus infections. Never realized until I left their house and didn't get them nearly to the same degree that it was from his smoke.

He is very much the "it's my house and I'll smoke if I want to" guy. My mom has finally gotten him to smoke only in the kitchen. She now has asthma, I believe in part caused by his smoking, and she has a lot of sinus type issues, too. The sad part is that he doesn't realize that his smoking keeps us away. Their house stinks. There are other reasons we don't go as often anymore, but that is definitely a main one. Once in a while we will go up but we are trying more and more to meet them on "neutral" turf - go out to dinner, etc. or to invite them to our place so we can avoid the stench. My husband dreads ever going anywhere in the car with him because it stinks of smoke and it is a trigger spot for him to smoke so he chain smokes while driving. We, the DDs, can successfully ask him to put it out, but the DSILs are not really there yet, so if they are along, they just suffer.

Sad Eyed Lady
2-5-11, 10:55pm
Yes, I too grew up in a smoking home, and I also had bronchitis off and on until I married and left. I did not smoke and neither did my husband, and suddenly the bronchitis was a thing of the past! As others have already said, the worst was going somewhere in a car. I remember my mother, stepfather, aunt and uncle all smoking and I was trapped in there. It would make me feel so sick, but when I said anything about it, the smokers just couldn't believe that it could make me feel that way. It is so strange now to think that not that many years ago people were smoking everywhere you went. I remember being at a basketball game in an college arena and the whole gym was so full of smoke. I ended up with a terrible migraine and was so sick on the way home.

Wildflower
2-6-11, 4:28am
I grew up in a smoke filled home. It was normal to me. My Dad smoked excessively and my Mom a couple cigarettes a day. I was a sickly kid with allergies (I was actually allergic to the smoke) and experienced reoccuring sinus and ear infections. The ear infections were so bad I lost much of my hearing in one ear. My Mom quit smoking when I was a teenager, my Dad quit smoking and switched to chewing tobacco in his early 50's. Both died in their early to mid 60's with illnesses totally unrelated to smoking. I smoked off and on in my late teens, early 20's, then quit forever one day whilst having my umpteen sinus infection. My allergies and sinus issues improved immediately after giving up the cancer sticks....

Eggs and Shrubs
2-6-11, 4:49am
My father became addicted to the free cigarettes given to him when he was serving in the navy in WW2. He died aged 36 in 1962. I was 5. I often see Capstan Full Strength in shops and think what might have been.

Never touched a cigarette in my life.

Bastelmutti
2-6-11, 8:22am
Both parents smoked. Dad quit before Mom did. Yes, we kids had frequent ear infections and respiratory infections, including pneumonia when I was 5. I don't think anyone associated it with the smoke at the time.

catherine
2-6-11, 8:28am
My mom was a three-pack a day smoker (PallMalls with no filter). In my high school years, I'd put anti-smoking propaganda in her cigarette drawer, hoping she'd quit. She did quit cold turkey at the age of 65, but it was too late. Shortly after that she was diagnosed with emphysema and died 4 years later. I don't believe I ever suffered from second-hand smoke.

My DH has smoked since he was a teenager. He always smoked in the house. One time, one of my kids commented on how his friend's clothes smelled SO good, and he wanted to know what kind of detergent they used. So I called the mom, who is our next-door neighbor. She VERY tactfully told me that it really wouldn't matter what detergent I used, because my kids would always smell like smoke. In fact, in high school, my daughter's teacher assumed she smoked because of how she reeked of it. (come to think of it, my 8th grade piano teacher thought the same thing about me--I've never smoked).

6 years ago, DH quit, and said that he felt so stupid that he ever smoked. Our home air cleaned out, we could actually drive in the car without getting either the smell or the cold air (he would always roll down the window to minimize the smoke--and I'd tease that we all had a choice between lung cancer and pneumonia when we drove with him).

Total bummer--he started smoking again 3 years ago--and he now smokes these NASTY little cigars. And inhales. Of course, there's no going back in terms of smoking in the house again, but I swear, he does smoke in his own home office, and I can smell it through the walls.

I have done my best to NOT desensitize myself to the smoke because I really want to be aware of when my environment is reeking with that nasty stuff.


Loosechickens--it's great that you were influenced by that ad. In general, people don't respond to anti-smoking PSAs. But it's great that sometimes they do hit the target! In terms of that parental influence, three out of four of my kids smoked at one time or another. Two of them quit when their dad did (see--parent's DO model right action and can make a difference!) . One of them has actually gone back recently (he has adult ADD and has started taking Ritalin, which I hear can be a risk factor for cravings to smoke???). The third, my daughter, never really was a "smoker"--just an occasional American Spirit smoker, but she doesn't do that now at all. My fourth child is a worry wart and just was too afraid to start.

goldensmom
2-6-11, 8:48am
Here is a non-family childhood experience that added to my aversion to smoking. My band director took and played my oboe one time to show me how to play a part. He was a smoker and as a result my oboe reed tasted like smoker-mouth. I could have puked. I threw the reed away and reeds way back then cost about $6.00/reed. Now oboe reeds are closer to $20.00/reed.

mira
2-6-11, 8:52am
My mum smokes. As a kid, I don't remember suffering physically from second-hand smoke, but whenever I go to visit now, the faintest whiff of cigarette smoke coming from the back room gives me a head/earache.

I remember she smoked while she was pregnant with my youngest brother, so it's likely that she did with all three of us. Not sure what health implications that may have had for us now as adults.

Mrs-M
2-6-11, 2:56pm
You guys have touched on so many issues I relate to. My mom was the smoker in our home, dad never did, and like mother like daughter(s), both me and my older sister started smoking. (Baby sister never did). I started when I was in my mid teens (16-ish) and quit about 3 years ago, my older sister still smokes.

It's funny because at the time (when I smoked) I never seemed to be plagued by any side-effects of smoking or being around smokers, but now that I'm a non-smoker I get an instant sore throat the second I'm around a smoker, so I avoid it at all costs.

My husband to this day tells me that- "I never smelled like a typical smoker when I smoked". Bless his soul, but from experience I know there's no escaping the wafting of cigarette smoke that settles on ones clothing and hair, not to mention the bad and off tasting breath it creates. (I still get so mad at myself for ever starting). Shame on me.

My husband rallied behind the troops (our kids) to help get me to quit and although I tried and failed many times, I finally reached that milestone decision where I thought- "enough is enough". And that was that. I always tried to smoke outside when I could, i.e., gardening, watering, etc, but I will admit I did smoke in the house too.

Thinking back on it now, the smoke-filled environment I grew up in as a kid was way worse than the one my kids grew up in (not saying that makes it all right), but my mom NEVER went outside for a cigarette (unless it worked out that way), and she smoked an easy pack (plus) a day.

Little story to share. As kids we had sleepover parties at neighbours all the time, and one night while I was getting ready for bed (sleeping bag/pillow), one of the neighbourhood kids caught the odour of my pillow and said- "it's smells like smoke". It was a pivotal moment for me that changed the way I thought of living in a home where a parent smoked. I was really self-conscious about the smell of my things after that experience, yet I still started smoking years later. That, I will never understand.

pony mom
2-11-11, 10:56pm
Both of my parents smoked and both quit-dad 15 and mom 25 years ago. My grandfather smoked and had throat cancer and died of lung cancer. My mom had a lung cancer scare a few years ago. I've always hated it and have never even tried smoking. My mom smoked while she was pregnant with both my sister and me. Back in the 60s they still did that.

When I was young I remember going to my friends' houses and noticing just how nice their smoke-free homes smelled. Always hated when smoking was allowed at work. There I was, freshly showered, perfumed, clean clothes, and within an hour I stunk.

I'm a massage therapist and have a few clients who smoke--and I hate working on them. They reek, their hair and skin feels horrible and they just seem unhealthy. When I was young my dentist smoked and back then they didn't wear gloves and I remember his smokey icky fingers in my mouth----YUCK!! So many smokers think they don't smell but they do, and when they quit they are the biggest complainers of how smokers smell. Yeah, that was you at one time!

kib
2-12-11, 12:20am
I never smoked, and I came from a non-smoking household. I think actually having a parent who smokes really does put a whole different spin on the normalcy of it, especially for a little kid. Not that it necessarily encourages them to smoke, but smoking becomes a background option in a way that it doesn't in a non-smoker household. It was like ... coming from that place, although I tried cigarettes and would occasionally smoke one at a bar, it just never even occurred to me to take up smoking as a daily part of life or buy a pack. Not quite sure how to explain what I mean, but I think it would have been almost as shocking to my folks if I'd become a smoker as it would have been if I'd announced I was going to be a nun or a car mechanic, or maybe that I was having a sex change operation. Not so much that they'd have disapproved of me smoking, but that they'd be unable to fathom it.

Curious thread-hijack: did your parents drink, and do you? Mine did, lightly, I do, lightly (now). In exactly the opposite example to smoking, the first bag of my own groceries I ever bought when I moved out had a bottle of wine in it, not in some defiant frat house gesture but because that's what we drank with dinner.

redfox
2-12-11, 3:43am
I did, but it was the smoke in the car that I remember. I used to be a social worker, and worked with pregnant & parenting teens. One of the things I did was explain to teen parents that babies who live in a house with cigarette smoke have 5 times the number of infections than babies from non-smoking households. I told them that they could save themselves a lot of sleepless nights and be really good parents if they just smoked outside. I hope it worked.

My mom quit when I was in elementary school, and my dad was a closet smoker until he had a heart attack at 58. I don't recall us being ill a lot, but I'll ask my mom.

RosieTR
2-12-11, 8:39am
My mom smoked maybe like a pack a day or so. When I was little she even smoked in the car. Finally they bought a new(er) car and she decided she wouldn't get it all smoky and that was a great relief. Over the years her smoking steadily declined due to policies at work, etc that discouraged smoking. This may have helped her quit in her late '50s after a car accident that left her lung collapsed. My sister and I surmise that the Dr gave her a talking-to about the damage after a chest xray but she denies it. Either way, glad she quit. Both her mom and older sister died of lung cancer, as did another cousin who was a heavy smoker. I used to joke that lung cancer runs in my family. Neither me nor my sister has ever smoked (other than a handful of times with "wacky tobacky"), but I think my brother does. He's done many, many other drugs so I guess smoking (tobacco) is likely the least of his worries if he can keep clean of the others. As far as infections, I had bronchitis once and my sister had ear infections but that may or may not have been related to the smoking since many kids have issues.

Mrs-M
2-12-11, 4:02pm
Such a great and informative thread! I love reading stats such as this. (It's OK, really, you can call me crazy if you like)! LMAO! :)

One thing that comes to mind for me is my old baby picture and childhood photo albums. (Mom is smoking in so many of the pictures). That's the way it was back then, 1960's, even the 1970's. Mothers smoked throughout their pregnancies and continued after their babies were born. At times I think to myself- "how did we EVER survive"...

I sometimes think, "maybe if mom never smoked I would have never started". Somehow it was too easy being like "mom" when I got older (teen years) and lighting up. And of course back then everyone smoked, few were against it. Just one family (in our neighbourhood) is all I can remember who didn't allow smoking in their home, everyone else did, regardless of whether or not they smoked.

Kib. My parents never drank, well dad did occasionally, like at Christmas, but otherwise not. (Mom is allergic to alcohol). I myself don't drink either, aside from an occasional glass of red wine. DH has a beer every now and then (summer months), but that's it.

fidgiegirl
2-12-11, 5:15pm
This thread reminds me of another story. My coworkers daughters, who are now 6, were riding in the car with their mom when they were about four. They looked over into another car and saw someone smoking and didn't know what he was doing. They had never seen anyone smoke!! Think about it. Smoking is not allowed in restaurants or other public establishments. Smoking is rarely on TV and really, not on any shows that a four year old would see. There are no print or TV ads for cigarettes anymore. And then if none of her family/neighbors/etc. smokes, it is totally feasible that they never would have seen anyone smoke! What a different world.

pony mom
2-12-11, 10:13pm
In response to the hijack, alcoholism runs on my mom's side of the family. My grandfather and uncles drank alot, especially at parties. My mom drank a lot at home while my dad worked for most of my life. Now my sister is a hard-core alcoholic. I, on the other hand, have had maybe one glass of wine and one wine cooler my entire life of almost 45 years. I don't like the taste at all and can make a complete fool of myself totally sober, thank you very much. I don't even enjoy being around people who are drinking. Guess I'm a stick in the mud party pooper.

I seem to be one of those people who observes and then makes decisions. With my sugar addiction I think I could easily become addicted to alcohol if I enjoyed drinking. My ex boyfriend drank a 6 pk. or more on his own every day. Morning, evening, always a beer around.

Perhaps I'm a bit too picky but I wouldn't date a smoker or heavy drinker. Unless they were Mr. Right and quit for me.

Mrs-M
2-12-11, 10:56pm
Fidgiegirl. You touched on something I never gave so much as a thought to. It really is a different world today.

Pony mom. I'm OK around social drinking (light social drinking), beyond that, no thank you. (Call me a stick in the mud party pooper too)! :)

Wildflower
2-13-11, 5:20am
Alcoholism runs rampant through my family. Both Grandfathers, Uncles, 1 Aunt, 2 cousins, and both of my parents and sister. Thankfully, I have been spared the incessant need to drink daily and excessively. I have the occasional glass of wine or a margarita, but never do I drink more than 1 to 2 drinks a week. DH has a couple beers in the evening a few times a week, but I don't think that is any kind of a drinking problem, not compared to what and how much my parents drank on a daily basis. As I was growing up I saw how much damage excessive alcohol can cause....that was lesson enough for me.

kal
2-13-11, 8:17am
My father smoked until he has an brain hemorrhage when he was 42. Like someone else mentioned he started when he was in the army. I read somewhere that second hand smoke affects the eyes of children who live in a house with smokers. Neither of my parents wear glasses (they are in their eighties) but all 3 children do. Has anyone else noticed this?

Mrs-M
2-13-11, 3:57pm
Wildflower. I see so many "like" qualities in you and I. I often think, yes, Wildflower and I could be sisters.

Kal. The glasses thing is very interesting. You've given me much food for thought in mentioning it. I'm going to go through both my husbands side of the family as well as my own side and see what I can piece and put together in relation to it.

Bronxboy
2-13-11, 5:40pm
Perhaps I'm a bit too picky but I wouldn't date a smoker or heavy drinker. Unless they were Mr. Right and quit for me.
I grew up in a household with both parents smoking. My mother was just short of lighting cigarettes from the last one.

Shortly after moving away from home I briefly dated a woman who was a smoker. Just couldn't deal with it at all.

KayLR
2-13-11, 7:06pm
My Dad was a heavy smoker. He never smoked until he received them for free in the Air Force in WWII.

I remember coming downstairs in the a.m. to eat breakfast before school, and the air in the entire downstairs was a blue filmy haze. Dad would have been up for hours drinking coffee and reading the paper and smoking one after another. He smoked unfiltered Camels.

As he was a law enforcement officer, the stress prohibited him from ever successfully quitting, although he tried a few times. Eventually as an old man, he had to be on oxygen, and only then did he stop. He said he still craved them everyday, even until he passed away. My Mom didn't smoke.

All I remember as a kid was that even though I was quite athletic and did lots of sports, I could never run around the track without wimping out. It just felt like my lungs were on fire. My sister and I had lots of strep throat, too.

But no lasting effects I'm aware of. We're all pretty healthy.

Mrs-M
2-14-11, 6:45am
Bronxboy. I'll admit that if I were single I could never date a smoker. I feel like a hypocrite saying such a thing knowing I smoked for years and DH didn't, but...

KayLRZ. I remember blue-filled rooms too as a kid. One thing I remember doing in my teens (before I started smoking) was showering, getting dressed into my school clothes, then making as short of an appearance as possible to gulp down a little breakfast before mom would light up. I didn't want my clothes smelling like smoke.

catherine
2-14-11, 7:16am
I grew up in a household with both parents smoking. My mother was just short of lighting cigarettes from the last one.

Shortly after moving away from home I briefly dated a woman who was a smoker. Just couldn't deal with it at all.

I have to admit I was pretty disappointed when DH started smoking again--especially since he's now smoking these little cigars that smell twice as bad as regular cigarettes. I try as hard as I can to get him not to smoke in places we share, but he cheats all the time, and it really has put a chink in our relationship, if I can be perfectly honest. So, when he knows I unequivocally do not want him smoking in my car, he does it when I'm not in the car. When he knows I don't want smoking in the house, he waits until I go to bed and then smokes.

Don't say, "confront him" because I do all the time. I've told him he's being disrespectful of my feelings, and that the fact that he can just blithely ignore something that's important to me is very frustrating. He gets mad at ME if I get in my car when he's been smoking and I have to cover my nose because the smell is so annoying. Or, he'll complain to his friends that he's not a real man (fill in the colloquialism) because he can't even smoke in his own house.

Sorry for the vent, and hate to do the DH-bashing here, but I think how the smoker and you manage to coexist makes a big difference in being able to have a SO that smokes when you don't. Unfortunately for me, this has become a late-in-marriage-life bone of contention.

Mrs-M
2-14-11, 7:31am
Catherine. A great big warm hug to you this morning. Vent all you like. :) I don't consider your concerns "bashing" at all. When one poses legitimate concerns and attempts to set a grid-work of sorts to establish a common ground as to rules and guidelines related to each others actions, the arguments made for controlled actions and measured approaches should be met head-on and respected.

KayLR
2-14-11, 1:31pm
Mrs-M, looking back, many of our friends' parents smoked, too, so I am betting we weren't the only kids in school who reeked of smoke.

jennipurrr
2-14-11, 3:38pm
My parents did not smoke and I am extremely averse to cigarette smoke. It gets me stopped up and coughy for a day or so just to spend a couple hours in a bar that allows smoking.

DH grew up in a household where everyone smoked in the house and still does...that was a weird one for me as most of the smokers I know smoke outside this day and age. DH is the only one in his family that doesn't smoke. He has some breathing problems and had an absolutely awful time living around smokers so he was completely turned off to it, never having the urge to smoke except teenage experimentation. Our nephew has asthma and has to use a nebulizer since he was a baby (now 5)...it gets worse in the winter, hmmm...when everybody is inside smoking all the time. I can't imagine subjecting a child to that :(

Mrs-M
2-14-11, 8:16pm
KayLRZ. You're right, until you mentioned it I didn't give it any thought. When I think back to way back when I don't recall knowing one single family where at least one parent didn't smoke. Most cases both parents smoked. The biggest thing I notice today is, whenever I see a smoker they really tend to stand out. (Like a sore thumb). And, it's almost as if it's a big taboo to cigarette smoke nowadays.

Jennipurrr. Well wishes to your nephew. (Give him a warm gentle loving hug from me the next time you see him). :) Early last year (here in Canada) a new law was introduced Re: "smoking in a vehicle with children under the age of 16", yet I still see moms doing it. Makes me so mad! The fine for such an offense is $109, but as far as I'm concerned the penalty should be $1009!

Wildflower
2-18-11, 3:11am
Wildflower. I see so many "like" qualities in you and I. I often think, yes, Wildflower and I could be sisters.


:D

Mrs-M
2-18-11, 12:42pm
Great big morning hug to you Wildflower! :)

Bronxboy
2-18-11, 1:20pm
Mrs-M and Catherine, it was a very strong feeling in my case. I was not long away from a smoke-filled home and my reaction to being with a smoker was very strongly negative. Just couldn't begin a relationship despite having a very eager partner and no other prospects in the wings.

Catherine, I'm sorry you find yourself in that difficult position.

Mrs-M
2-20-11, 1:38pm
Bronxboy. So glad to hear you chose not to reduce your standards. Good on you! My husband (bless his heart) never once asked me to quit in all the time we were dating/going out, so of course no pressure from him meant no pressure (thoughts) on my part to quit. Even after years of marriage my smoking was never an issue, but once our kids (first born) started getting older, the dial controlling the pressure began to turn! :)

My kids would say things to me like, "I wish you didn't smoke mom", and things like, "will you be mad at me if I start smoking when I get older". Stuff like that. Really makes one think and give second thought to the things we do as parents...