Smoke Free the Way to Be

This Saturday, March 3, marks a very important date for Chad and I.  It will be a year ago on Saturday that my husband has been smoke free!

Last year one night Chad and I were sitting on the sofa watching television and browsing the latest edition of the local community college mailer. Inside the mailer were all kinds of classes listed … from cooking, to ballroom dancing, to learning to do your taxes to smoking cessation.  That last one was a key one for us.

My husband had been a smoker for years. I remember saying I never wanted to date a smoker and here I was engaged to one. Chad at least was a respectful smoker, if you will. He never smoked in the house, he would walk away from the group if he was smoking, he had a separate smoking jacket so when he came in he didn’t reek of smoke (well, as much as he could have I guess).

For the most part his smoking didn’t bother me. Don’t get me wrong there were times when I could still smell it and it was overwhelming. However, the thing I hated most about his smoking was how much he was missing. If we went to a concert he would have to go find an appropriate smoking area to feed his habit. By the time he went to the smoking area, had a cigarette and came back he could have been gone for 20 to 30 minutes. It was amazing how much he missed because of smoking.

He had been saying for a while that he wanted to quit smoking, but I really wasn’t really sure how serious he was.  That was until he was looking at that college class schedule and said he wanted to sign up for the smoking cessation class. I remember being surprised but excited that he wanted to do it.

The class was a hypnosis class and I knew that Chad would be leery going into a hypnosis class. To be honest I really didn’t think he would even allow himself to be hypnotized. I thought it might be kind of corny and was worried he would feel the same way.

The night of the class came and I wished him luck and told him how proud of him I was. I knew that it may not work and I told him that no matter what the outcome I was proud of him for at least taking this step. I patiently sat at home wondering what was going on with him and if anything was working.

A few hours later he came home and shared his experience with me.  My favorite part of his story was that he smoked on his way there and crushed one out right before going into the class. He seemed a bit uncertain if it worked as well. He recalled not really feeling hypnotized but said when he got up his legs were kind of jelly like as if they had fallen asleep.  He could recall much of what she said and the techniques she taught them to deal with withdrawal. We knew that only time would tell.

Well, it’s been a year later and Chad still hasn’t had a cigarette!  I couldn’t be more proud of him! 

This was such an important step in our life. By quitting he gave more to me than he could ever realize. He gave me more time with him!  I know that I will have him around longer and he will be here not only for me but for Ray too. He gave us the gift of his health and time together in our future!  That’s the greatest gift anyone could ever ask for!