Coming Soon...Cleaner Air in My Home!

I am not a smoker. Hate, hate, HATE cigarette smoke. Frank is a smoker. Funny how that all worked out. He's been smoking since the age of 15. I was well aware of this fact when we met and yet, I hate it.

When Nick was little, he was prone to get coughs/bronchitis and the pediatrician told us that if Frank stopped smoking, the child would stop getting sick. Well, he didn't exactly STOP smoking, but he stopped smoking in the house. Sort of. We did the smokeless ashtray things, air purifiers and of course, smoking outside but he never strayed from his one-pack a day habit. I get ill when he smokes around me. My head gets stuffed up and I cough a lot. It's not pleasant.

Something else that you need to know about my smoking hubby is that he does NOT like to spend money. Ever. When cigarette prices went up a couple of years ago, he whined, he complained but it didn't bother him enough to make a real impact. It was an annoyance but not an inconvenience. Well, prices went up again and NOW he is well and truly ticked and ready to take some action.

First he tried other brands. It was kind of funny because me stead-fast Marlboro smoker was not coming home with lesser-named brands because they were cheaper. He didn't like them. So he announced to me yesterday morning that he has decided to just cut back on how much he smokes so that he can still smoke the brand he likes. Instead of one-pack a day, he will now smoke a half a pack a day. He wasn't going to tell me at first but he decided to share and I'm glad he did because the other day he was an absolute BEAR! He was snippy and nasty and had I known that he was truly suffering withdrawals, I probably would have been nicer. Not much, but nicer. I mean, how nice CAN you be when someone is being unreasonable?

Not much.

So we're almost through the first week. He seems to be doing okay. Last night was a little rough. I watched him pace the house for about fifteen minutes before I realized that he was struggling. I had him come and help me with dinner to distract him. It worked. People have asked me over and over why I have not pushed him to quit sooner. The truth is, if you have any kind of an addiction - food, cigarettes, whatever - you will not quit unless YOU (the addict) wants to. He had to want this. His plan is to see if he can survive on the half pack and if he can, then he will decrease again. We're not ready to do the patch or anything yet. I'm just really excited that he is making this change and that he is possibly on the road to quitting.

I cannot wait to take that first smoke-free breath in my home and car. Too bad I can't hold on to my Disney Celebration Party Box until then!