Wow!! Too funny!! Yesterday, all I could think about was seeing my meter turn over to seven months. Yet, this morning, I pulled up the group, began to read and didn't think about it until I noticed it in my 2nd response to a thread. Karen, you are now an adopted QuitBuddy®; of mine because it was when responding to your post that I noticed my new, improved QuitMeter® (now with even *bigger* numbers...™).

This is great. I'm on the downhill side of the mountain. I'm HOF+ !! I can see the steam from the hot tubs rising in the distance. Not one to leave anything until the last minute, I will now venture forth to select just the right champagne for my OF celebration. Let's see....just how many bottles does it take to fill a hot tub, anyway? Oh, wait! We'll just drink it instead...and maybe my first and best QuitBuddy® Jef. will honor me further by providing hoer's d'oeuvres for the party...some of them there fancy-*ssed French munchies.

How do I know that I will make it? Well...those of you that have been around a while should certainly know by now that what it took for me to quit was my father's death. I made a solemn vow to him the day he was put to rest that I would quit smoking by my birthday. And I just barely made it. But I did fulfill that promise.

On my side table in my home office, there is picture of my father...taken not long before he died. It was Christmas day...and it was a great time for the family. (At the time, we were under the mistaken impression that this latest cancer was as treatable as the others he had beaten.) Every day, I look at that picture at least a dozen times and feel the sense of self-satisfaction that comes with making good on a promise to a dying man. Often, while staring (and yet, looking through) that photo, I hear him when he told me - just before he died - that he had always been proud of me...even when I failed...because I had never quit trying...never given up. I can hear it as though he is sitting next to me. I can hear him now...

So. I will not give up. I will not give in. I will continue to beat the Nicodemon® into submission. Because I am no longer a smoker. I am Smober®;, I tell you...an EX-smoker...a NON-smoker...and, although I sometimes hate to admit it,...I'm a born-again, neo-nazi, get-that-d*mn-stinky-*ssed-cigarette-out-of-my-face-cuz-I'd-rather-breathe-fresh-air EX-smoker! All my lungs are belong to me!

A huge THANK YOU!!!!!!! to everyone of you that has helped me along the way. From Jef. - who got me here in the first place, through Sass and Gwen and Elle and Tammy M (I'm ever an FOT) and Padders (THUD!) and the Black sheep (baaaaa...) who welcomed me so warmly (Evidently, they were under the mistaken impression that, since I showed up with Jef., that I was as funny and nice as he - and could cook as well.), through Wheeler, and Hawkeye, and Susan and even4Steven and Carolina (nothing could be finah!) and Gail and Kent and Lee and Pix and Diane and Eddie and BobF and Nicole(freezing) and Bassgirl (the sweet young thang that used to fill in when I got a dance...where'd she go, anyway?) and Les (goLes goLes goLes) and Purple Dawn (sounds like a Prince song) to my new friends Billi, and Kathleen and Adrienne and the Druid, and Edna Pearl, and Maggie and David and Jill and April and Lorraine and Cheer and Bren and John vG and Rosie (read and post!) and Maggie and Pat and the windupdoll-baby and TOB and Lemming and Goddess Xena (we're not worthy, we're not worthy!) and Frank (what *does* TLCC mean anyway?) and Mel (woman!) and Frannie and Arlene and Ctrl-Q and Quitgirl and everyone who has allowed me to use their words on the Diary site and... and...and...and...and...and if I forgot anyone it's because of the BrainFog® (it's not my fault!™ )...

Thanks to everyone that has ever offered a response and a helping hand to keep my on the path to salvation...who has witnessed the exorcism...who has made me laugh when I needed to...and to those that have allowed me the honor of doing the same for them. In truth, you are all my QuitBuddies®...the best group of friends I could ever have.

Life is good! Time for the band leader to have a celebration dance. Which one of you pretty ladies would honor me by dancing along?

Lane, HOF+, f3as3
©2001 by Lane Baldwin
All my words are belong to me!

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