rainbells wrote:So, it wasn't the fact of smoking that bothered me, it was the attitude that all the good times in life get used up when you are young, so why get old? I'm still having good times, and hope I will have a few more years of them before I'm through.

This isn't exactly what I was saying. I never said that all the good times in life are used up in youth, quite the contrary, actually, I've had a pretty rocky and unpleasant go of my teen years and most of my 20s. My point has been only my own personal view for myself, that smoking is far less unhealthy for me than many of the other terrible things I have done to myself over the years, and if I feel that I want to keep it as a habit, as a known vice, then I don't see it being as harmful as the things that could have killed me several times over that I no longer do. I am sounding mysterious only because I do not wish to go into my story and moan and whine about what's happened to me, only to have everyone understand that I have been through worse, and smoking has always been the least of my concerns. I probably will quit one day, without warning and for no real reason, and that will be a good day, because it's one less unhealthy thing I do. But for now, I am not worrying about it, because I'd rather enjoy life, certainly in my youth and as I age, and not worry too much about consequences down the line, because I can do what I want no matter what age I am and still smoke, and if I do end up with cancer or an untimely death, then that's that. I am not being flippant about this claim, just honest and practical, because smoking is still a part of my life and I won't rid myself of it until I really want to, which is the only way it will be possible, anyway. I am in no way downplaying the horror of cancer, but as I've said, I've been through enough already, so I'm not going to spend any more time worrying about how I'm going to die. That is all I meant, not to mean that I laugh in the face of cancer or old age, just that this is what works for me now, and that is all I can worry about in order to stay sane.

Sorry for any misunderstandings.

Bleachededen, you remind me of something that happened to my mother many years ago. She had metastatic breast cancer, (nothing to do with smoking, although she smoked Lucky Strikes-yuk), and she was in the last months of her life. I had to get an ambulance to take her to the hospital, because she was suddenly unable to walk. So she's lying in the emergency room, can't walk, and in severe pain from the cancer in her bones, waiting for her doctor to come in and take her for radiation. A doctor we had never seen before walks in and starts to question her. Seemingly stupid questions they were, like 'When did you last eat?" and "What drugs do you take?" He seemed to be trying to diagnose her problem, which was metastatic breast cancer as we already knew. She answered as best she could until he got to the question "Do you smoke?" "Yes, I do" she said. "Well, you need to give it up because it's very bad for your health" Both my mother and I burst out laughing, and she said to him ,"Listen, Sweetie, that's the least of my problems. Now get out of here and stop wasting my time" She died a few months later, but I still laugh every time I think about that dumb doctor's face.