Happy Anniversary!

Although we are nearing the 10th Anniversary of the date we met, and it’s now just more than 2 ½ years since we married, this special anniversary celebrates 5 years since my husband and I quit smoking!

Five years smoke-free! Hooray!

That’s somewhere between $22,000 and $25,000 that we have not spent feeding the monster. We’ve saved our bodies the ravages of at least 46,000 cigarettes each – not to mention sparing our families, our cars and our home the stink of 92,000 disgusting butts.

Oh the time we wasted smoking! I can’t remember how often I told my daughter we would do something “right after this cigarette.” As smokers we’d linger, usually a little too long, after dinner. My day couldn’t begin until I had those deep drags off the morning’s first cigarette.

Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s not like we managed to bank those savings, either in time or money. We were extremely motivated in the early days: each morning we’d put $5 in a box we kept on the dresser, recording our ‘deposits’ in a little notebook kept inside. Last week I peeked in the box. It held four US pennies, a button and the notebook showing six deposits of $5.00 each and six IOUs for the same. (Lju had made the deposits, I had made the withdrawals.)

We may not have the money or the time back, but we are so much richer for having quit. I cannot imagine the many experiences or things we would have done without if we were still buying smokes. In fact, we rationalize some of our purchases by the equivalent number of packs or cartons of cigarettes. For example, my monthly car payment is equal to about 5 cartons, or about what I used to smoke. I guess that’s why I always drove a used car!