Day 117: What I was doing on the LAST inauguration day...

[SkyGirl]

Stonecipher brought something to my attention this morning (thanks, stone!!)  It's worth mentioning, I think.

I gave up my 23-year Quit on the last Inauguration Day back in 2008.  No, that's not a typo.  Yes, I said TWENTY-THREE year Quit.

It had nothing to do with the fact that it was Inauguration Day.  That was just peripheral.  My sister came down to DC to go to the Inauguration and stayed with me for a week.  She smoked back then.  We went to the Inauguration and when we got home that night, we opened a bottle of wine.  We bundled up and went out on the patio so she could smoke.

I said, "Lemme have one of those".  She said, "Are you sure?".  I said, "Of course!  I quit 23 years ago.  I hardly remember what it's like to smoke.  I just want to try one again."

Yeeeeah.  That was all it took.  The next day, I bummed three cigarettes from her.  The day after that, I bummed seven cigarettes.  The day after THAT, she said, "Go buy your own!"  So I did.  And I smoked a pack a day, every day, until I quit again on Sept 27, 2012.

And THAT, my friends, is a cautionary tale if there ever was one.  The Nico-Demon in your brain is a sleeping giant.  Just one cigarette, or even just one puff, can wake him up and turn him into a raging monster again.

The GOOD news is that here we are, on another Inauguration Day four years later.  And I don't smoke.  And I never will be so naive again to think that "one won't hurt...".

[Brenda_M]

Oh, my, isn't it amazing and scary?! How awesome that you're not smoking this time around! 😃

Oh, it was SO COLD in 2008. I was in the ticketed section, and I'm shocked I still have all my toes.

[SmokedOut041412]

A tale worth telling---A warning to all! 

Thank you for sharing. Hoping that it will help many others as to not take that "one puff" that you, myself, and so many others thought we could get away with. We can't!

N-O-P-E!!!

[Strudel]

Oh my - your story has made me take a very deep breath...... Wow! A real life example of being only one puff away from a pack a day. Thank you so much for sharing this! I think that all of us - even those of us with long quits - need to be reminded of this. Congrats on your forever quit! 

[Sootie]

Your story is my story----substitute a friend for your sister and it was NOT Inauguration Day...but, same deal....thinking one can not make any difference.

I blew a 13 year quit. I smoked for many years afterward...thank goodness you are coming back after 4.

Good blog as always.

[Nyima_1.6.13]

WOW!

[lstamus]

Hey Mags,

Glad you didn't light up this time, I hope you just enjoyed the inaugeration. They are such a lovely couple and they look so nice together. I am glad Barack quit. If he cando it so can I. I have friends that are seniors who I have coffee with and some of  them go outside int he bitter cold to smoke-just shows what demon nicotine canbe and how it holds us hostage,even when we fight it. I don't do that. I encourage them not to do that,but rightnow it falls on deaf ears. I will keep trying for its never hopeless. Do you live in D.C.? I've beenthere at least three times once for a conferenceat the Grand Hyatt and with my grandparents wh3en I was a child,then for a conference on disabilities in 2003, stayed at the Renaissance near chinatown I believe. I love D.C. Can someone tell me how to put up those cute pictures you guys use so my stuff isn't so boring. Kick butts everybody! Lstamus

[freedom-38]

This is some scary stuff we are dealing with here. Great blog.

You are doing so good and are such a darn inspriation to me!!

xo

[flomigrl]

Way to go Sky Girl!!!  Quite a story...but a warning for all...and it's funny though too cause that's kind of how it all started in the beginning as well...for me anyway.  It was just suppose to be one!  

[Giulia]

May I copy this and add it to Relapse Traps - Slippin and Sliding section?   (With you as the author, of course.) 

Questions: How old were you when you quit prior to your 23 year relapse?  How long had you smoked?  How much?  Were you a member of a support group back in Dec. of '08?  And did you have any idea that "just one" would put you back into smoking mode?  Did you even give it a thought?  Why did you ask for one?  After 23 years?  Because you'd  'had a few?'  That can't be it.  I'm sure you've 'had a few' over those 23 years.  Was it  because you were curious to see what they tasted like after a 23 year absence?  What was it that made you want to bum one?  To 'share' an intimate a moment with your sister?   I'm asking simply because for years I've been trying to find out WHY people relapse after long periods of being smoke free so that - I don't. I suspect it was such a long period of time you didn't even think about "one" being the ticket to a full relapse.  What's your 'take?"

Sleeping Giant is right.

[SkyGirl]

Yes, Giulia, of course you may use this.  I'm about to leave for the airport right now.  I'll fill in all those details when I get to my hotel later today, ok?

[justsayno3]

I am sure that your lesson, learned the hard way, will be learned by some of us that will not have to make the same mistake. Thanks for sharing and NOPE is the only way for me. I know that. And in theater they say, "break a leg" for good luck. What do they say for good luck when you are getting ready to fly? "Break a landing gear? Sounds odd. How bout..."Good luck." You rock.

Lee

[joyeuxencore]

OMG I totally missed this!! xo

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[Lasttimeagain]

Wow. I had quit twice for two years each and then restarted. But 23 years! I've been thinking that if I can get past 2 years again I'll be in the clear  This story definitely reinforces that I will always need to be on guard even after decades but smoking. Thanks for sharing this oh so long ago