…and today is the 44th annual Great American Smoke out which is always the week before thanksgiving. It’s a chance to join other smokers in trying to kick the habit. Mark Twain once said giving up smoking is easy…I’ve done it hundreds of times. W.C. Fields said that he never smoked a cigarette…until he was nine. Well I wasn’t nine I think I was ten or eleven when I first stuck one in my mouth. When you think about it smoking wasn’t easy to start. I mean who didn’t cough up a lung or two with that first drag which was followed by that queasy stomach head spin feeling that eventually went away with every puff that followed. As far as quitting, if you can get through the first day without lighting up it gets a little easier every day thereafter. Even if you already lit one up today it’s still a good day to say this will be the last day I light up and make tomorrow the first day of finally just saying no, especially if you’ve been thinking about it. Oh, and if you fall off the wagon it’s a lot easier to climb back on so don’t let it discourage you. I had a few bumps in the road along the way but I’m happy to say it’s been 39 years since I quit and this with having a wife who didn’t quit until a couple of years ago. And no I wasn’t the kind of person who tried to force my quitting on to her like some folks do. Comedian Wendy Leibman would say people would always come up to her and say that her smoking is bothering them and she would say well, its killing me. So good luck if you decide to nip it in the butt. And besides its not often a quitter can be called a winner!