A healthier New Year

Jorma's New Year Resolution is to quit smoking and I'm so proud of him. It's a hard resolution to keep, especially when you are going cold turkey, but he's going to make it, I just know it.

We didn't quit at the same time so we wouldn't have to spend an entire weekend with sentences spoken through gritted teeth, each ending with please or thank you. And although I had planned for the worst, it was pretty smooth sailing. I get to quit next, but hopefully Jorma will be completely through his own withdrawal by that time and will be able to handle the emotional mess that is his wife undergoing nicotine withdrawal.

When we were living in Fremont and I was pregnant I quit smoking. It was either the first or the second day of my abstinence and we were in the elevator going down to the parking garage on our way to Target. We lived on the 5th floor and for some reason, by the time we hit the 4th, I started uncontrollably sobbing. Jorma looked at me and naturally said, "What's wrong?" to which I responded, "WHAT'S WRONG?! I'M TRYING TO QUIT SMOKING AND I'M PREGNANT, THAT'S WHAT'S WRONG!?". We had reached the first floor by then and he said, "So do you not want to go to Target?". I simply glared at him and hit the 5th floor button. We went back up, I locked myself in the bathroom for half an hour where I sobbed inconsolably then came out and was fine. Although I don't think we ever made it to Target that day.

Quitting is hard. Most seasoned smokers, if denied food, water and nicotine for 24 hours, given the choice, would choose nicotine over food and water. And what's harder is that you don't realize how many people smoke, until you've quit and are walking into the mall and smell a cigarette that's just been lit. You want to grab the person that's smoking and French kiss them just to see if you can suck the smoke out of their lungs. It's hard to quit when everyone smokes but you. Or at least that's what it feels like.

But all in all, it should be a healthier New Year for us. If you have Jorma's email address drop him a line and give him some support. You’ll probably have to send him a support email when I quit too, mostly because me quitting smoking is enough to make another person start.