Hello my AS3 family,
I am always amazed at how much I miss being with all of you (and yes, I mean 'all'... newbies and oldies alike) on a daily basis. When it is possible for me to check in, I can't get here fast enough. Smile.

I've been thinking about where I am in my quit. When I was with my grandsons yesterday, they asked me how long I had been quit now. When I told them a little over two years, the smile on their faces was almost bigger than mine. I'm with them, I'm sorta in awe too.

When I quit, I was determined that this was it.... there were no more second chances for me. My lungs hurt so badly that I knew I was on the brink of a much more serious problem than what I was experiencing at that moment if I didn't quit right now. But curiously, I had been feeling that lung pain for a while so that a health problem wasn't the motivator that it should have been. Nope, the real motivator was these two little grandsons that grace my life.

I didn't quit for them.... I quit for me. I quit because I wanted to see them grow up and become the men that I know they will be. But yesterday, I realized something else. My daughter is a smoker. (I do not in any way preach or get righteous with her. I really love her and it would please me incredibly if she quit smoking, but just like me, she will quit in her own time. Period.) As my grandsons looked at my face waiting for me to tell them how long I had been quit, I realized they were hoping to see success. If Grandma can do it, then maybe their mom can do it. They have been getting the anti-smoking pitch in school complete with the pictures of black lungs. This has them scared to death for their mom. Well, seeing that hopeful look on their faces renewed my determination to stay quit. They need to know it can be done.

How did I quit? ATTITUDE.... bottom line. I utilized ddSteve's Cog Quitting and that is why I have quit comfort to this day but what began the journey and continues to secure this journey is ATTITUDE. My ATTITUDE is.... I will do whatever it takes, for however long it takes, to gain my freedom and then to keep it.... no matter what that is.

I went through a great deal to get free. Those who know me know of my struggles but I maintain to this day that there is nothing that can be thrown into my path that will deter me from my goal of smoke freedom. Nothing. I flat won't allow it. Smile.

At this point, my lungs no longer hurt. The quit depression has been handled with the proper medication. I smell good. I feel great! And when my boys throw me that errant baseball, I can beat 'em to it! Ain't life grand? You bet it is.... Here's to smoke freedom....

Wishing all of you great strength and ATTITUDE,
Pat,
DOF
www.talkingstick.net