Thank you for the 13 month salutations!  It is nice to get thru the first year, however, the fall smells are pulling on my old smoking self.  The difference is I now have enough practice in to now remind myself to enjoy those smells, not wallow in them!  I enjoy the benefits of not being a slave to nicotine! 

Yes ..... this forum has been educational. I doubt I would be where I as without this Forum. Learning to dismiss the craves and not harp on them has been a godsend.

 Keep it up, and those thoughts will go away soon enough. This year has been crazy, so every time we dismiss the craves we win! Cheers and hugs!

How are you all???  Trying to stay safe in our unstable world????  Yes for me it's 1 year 1month & 1 day. And as usualI get on the Forum and your talking about the problem that I'm haveing And you all are dealing with THE CRAVING. You would think the mind would let go of these things. BUTTT NOOOO.   O.K. I'm a break downer. I've had 2 smokes over the last few months. The cravings got me. I'm glad to say that they tasted like @#&*. So I'm good for now. But instaed of beating myself up. I go on and say it will not happen again.  But the cravings after all this time are some powerful things. I'm trying to do like you Eve to dismiss them as they come on. I guess I can't let my gaurd down at all. Thanks for sharing things that are going on after all this time. Like in the beginning There is someone out there going thru the same things I am. and I'm not alone. Keep up the postings. It helps.  

Honestly you need to NOT BEAT YOURSELF UP. My thinking is everyone’s quit is personal and different. 1st off not exactly sure how long you smoked, but I did this for 30 years. So it will be a tough addiction to break, but can be done!

Example: I just bought a newer vehicle, you don’t need a key to make it go, it unlocks itself when I walk up to it. I still drive both vehicles, do you know how many times I’ve tried to put a key in it, or unlocked with the fob? Lol you have to retrain your brain. And yes some “brains” are resistant and stubborn. But PLEASE PLEASE remember that it CAN BE DONE!! You have come SO FAR, don’t let that devil sitting on your shoulder influence you on EVER being addicted again! I hope I helped a little. Remember this forum is always always here. So I am in the Feb 2020 group, and Monday I went back to the beginning of my posts and read through. Go check YOURS OUT. Maybe that will help your mind to say, I never want to be at that stage again! 

Ok...so...you just gave me an analogy Eve. Aren’t you so happy I have something to expound on??

So, I learned to drive on a standard transmission. For the longest time, when I would drive a car that was automatic, I would put left foot up and right hand down to shift! Yeah. Kind of like that Fob thing (I have one of those too by the way and they rock! ) So...we built this muscle memory that someone else was talking about. Or maybe that was on “Breaking Bad” which I was watching last night. Which by the way, you know how shows have those ratings and descriptions about why? Well, for “Breaking Bad” it is “MA” ( likely not me, haha) and it say “Violence, Nudity, Language, Gore, and SMOKING! They don’t italicize smoking but I did for emphasis as I think it is interesting that it is lumped in with “Gore and violence”. I see why it is mentioned with nudity, but gore?  OK, so, where was I? Oh yeah, Marie was trying to explain the Hank had beat up Jesse because of muscle memory, or maybe it was why he pulled his gun or something, but I don’t think that is where I was originally anyway, LOL! And since I know you’re about glazing over I better bring this in for a landing! Muscle memory of driving a standard had something to do with quit muscles and smoking but now I forgot!!! Probably cause I killed a bunch of brain cells with the gore and smoking! Either way, I just wrote ALL OF THIS instead of smoking with my morning coffee, ! I’ll come back if I remember my point....

Happy 13th month Anniversary Susan!!!

Omg YOU CRACK ME UP! 
 

So to explain the glazed over look....my mother (miss her dearly) but wow could she turn a short story LLLLLLLOOOOONNNNNGGGGGGG....LOL. I will never forger when she found my stash of “funny cigs” .......anyway I had a 3 hour lecture, by the way that jumped all over the place! THANK God I had to go to work.......my lord I was never SO HAPPY to get out of there! I was around 15. She still would have me sitting there at the kitchen table telling me about how harmful it is......little did she know it would be legal in most states......haha mom!

Eve! You’re gonna be excommunicated from Sainthood. Or maybe it’s called de-canonized. Not sure. Will look it up though so I can warn you! You were smoking funny cigarettes at 15?? Well, I was too. So maybe that’s why I can’t remember the analogy . Yeah, personally, I think weed should be legal everywhere and cigarettes illegal. Maybe. Not really sure I’ve thought about it much. I’m still recovering from Georgie and her gummy excursions. Well, good thing we don’t smoke either now I guess. Smoke in general probably not so good for the lungs. Had my share of smoke around here this year too. 

I am not upset about being removed from Sainthood, I only got in because you recommended me. I never applied. I knew I would not get in lol. 
See we started with the illegal stuff, now legalized and will no longer be smoking the legal stuff, what will happen to drug dealers?

Imagine if they make cigarettes illegal........the drug dealers could sell cigs then to people. No tax! Probably be cheaper. 
 

so I rambled... are edibles legal in Oregon? I guess so if aunt was going to town on them. Boy that was an adventure! I remember those POSTS. Haha.....can you laugh yet? 

Not sure how I missed this Eve! Sorry!

I was wondering that too. Maybe all the pot dealers work in the weed shops? There are an unbelievable amount of those. Yes, gummies legal, and yes, was Georgie’s choice of “candy”. By like the pound! Lol!

So weed and gummies and cigarettes are all taxed here. Weed stuff pretty high actually. Was one of the selling points to legalize it. The tobacco tax passed here too this past election. There has always been one, but now it is going up two buck more a pack. They will be almost $11 a pack. My old brand are $8.79 now. It is going to include all Bape stuff too. No other sales tax. Maybe alcohol? Not sure. I don’t really buy it except for the gallon of Everclear I got to make hand sanitizer earlier in the Pandemic. Still have a little less than half. That stuff is like over 95% alcohol!! The fumes alone do me in! 

 This last weekend, my youngest child was married.  I saw a lot of friends I had not seen in quite a while, most of them from out of state.  My matron of honor at my wedding, (39 years ago) was visiting with me the evening before the wedding,  At the reception, she asked surprisingly if I had given up smoking. It took me by surprise because everyone around me has gotten used to not seeing me smoke.  I haven’t had anyone notice that change for a while.  That was a nice reward!

21 months ago today!