My father smoked cigars and a lil' of the bud, but was very opposed to cigerettes. He forbid my mother to smoke her cigs.
I love my dad, but
what hypocrisy. After his death, my mom dug out the smokes quick. She's been smoking since 1975. She's much more laid back than he was, for the record.
For years I was opposed to her smoking. I would hollow them out and destroy them every chance I got, to her great chagrin. What a little arsehole I was, though I just love/d her and wanted her to be in perfect health, especially after losing dad. I was a kid, though, and didn't understand her stress.
Around the time I got my first car - at 15 - I was the kid who hauled the rest of 'em around. As I said before, I had always been opposed to smoking, but all my friends from CHURCH/YOUTH GROUP smoked. After hanging out with those kids, driving 'em around, guess what? It finally got the better of me. I looked at my co-pilot one day and said, "give me one of those." I was a nominal smoker for a few years, keeping a pack in my glove compartment for one every now and then. I never smoked at school (we had a smoking area) because I never even thought about it. Eventually, though, I became a 1 pack a day smoker. By the time I was playing sports in college I was up to about 1 pack and a half to two packs of Marlboro reds per day. Try smokin' that many cowboy killers and starting at forward on your soccer team! By the time I went into the Army I was smoking maybe even more. I had to quit, though, to go through BASIC. Looking back, I should've never picked them up again. But alas, I do enjoy smoking. Can't help it. I did have to give up the Reds for lights when I was in the Army. Airborne and smoking aren't the most compatible combination. I'll tell ya this, though, had I not had my smokes out in the middle of bumfruk Arabia (during the Gulf war) I woulda gone NUTS! It was one of the few ways to relax and pass the time.
I'm not suggesting anyone take up the habit, though. Apart from health issues, it is insanely expensive. I could've traveled the world three times probably with the money I've spent. Think about that before you pick up that un-needed habit.
Anyway, as it all shook out, my brother, like my dad is a sometimes cigar smoker, but HATES cigerettes. I, like my mother, smoke. (But it had nothing to do with her.) I am much more laid back than he will ever be. He detests his memories of growing up inhaling her smoke. As a matter of fact, the last time we got into an actual fistfight was over my smoking in the house. (I didn't smoke around my mom. She was asleep and he thought he'd wake her up and get me busted. So, I had to deep-six that. I punched him in the eye and then felt horrible afterwards. He didn't deserve that.)
It was not, though, my mom's fault that I started smoking. It was my youthful idiocy and the influence of my friends.
If you've never smoked, than DON'T start. It's NOT worth it! Stay as healthy as you can and put your money towards more intelligent and useful things.
