Okay, so I was with a friend who needed to stop in for a quick visit at a relative’s home. After shaking a few hands, I was offered a seat at the dining room table…and THESE were right in front of me!
Not my former brand of menthols, mind you, but menthol cigarettes, just the same. (There was no smoking going on inside the house; someone just kept their stash on the table.)
Yeah, of course, at that moment, I had a very vivid memory of smoking, sure…then the very next thought I had was how odd the pack and lighter looked. I haven’t seen or touched any of these things in over 169 days, after all, so they looked really… small. Smaller than I remembered. Small and fake, like those candy cigarette packs.
Weird.
Then, it occurred to me that an ex-smoker really could be sharply tested at that moment, especially a former menthol smoker like me. I was aware of the power of these items to trigger a crave in a nicotine addict like me, and I realized how easy it could be for someone like me to slip two or three out of that pack. After all, they were unguarded enough for me to snap a picture, so someone really could…
Whoa! Maybe it was me being tested? Really? A pop quiz? Here? Now? Well, bring it on!
Let's see...I’ve been relearning for 5 months now, so I have the skills. My “study group” (you!) has been by my side the entire time, and I have faith in what I’m building with my Quit. Moreover, I understand that these items on the table are actually the keys to unleashing the ONE THOUSAND cigarettes that will come and strike down all my hard work. Playing fast and loose with that kind of terribly-destructive potential is a sure way to fail the test.
No way! No, ma‘am! No, sir! To me, that pack of smokes may as well have been a live electrical wire, sizzling and sparking and skittering there on the tabletop.
Pop quiz? Ha! Aced it.
I saw what those smokes truly are. I saw them for what they were, too.
I know them because I knew them.
And I respect them as much as I hate them.
A+
STORM: 171
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