one of those classic shots

Yesterday was my 17th quit-smoking anniversary.

I looked through my photo trunk for a particular shot of my mother and me taken in the early 1980s at a bar when both of us had cigarettes in our hands, or at least that is how I recall the scene. But I couldn't find it so I brought this shot downstairs to ask Michael if it would bother him for me to post it at my blog, this being a shot of me and another man, and he marvelously said it would not bother him. He agrees that it is a great photo. So outstanding, in fact, that when Michael and I went to New York to be married in 1995 we went to this exact area there at Liberty Island and set our camera on auto-shot for a series of poses. The results were sweet b&w pictures of us, but we both agree they are not this shot in terms of photographic art. And it remains a mystery why, in our honeymoon shots, the World Trade Center was faded in the background so as to be nearly undetectable against a clear sky. In fact, in one photo neither tower is visible at all. A strange foreshadowing perhaps.

This iconic New York kissing couple shot was taken by an agreeable tourist in March 1989 of bfk and me. Many of you have seen those initials here at Writerquake when I posted about his operatic musical, bfk's Oedipus. You can hear it at the link or at the linked badge at the end of my sidebar. He also leaves pithy and astute comments here from time to time. We have known one another since 8th grade German class and continued on through high school together, when he bested the rest of us by graduating a year early. I later joined him at the University of Nevada, Reno, for some years. He moved to New York City around the same time as when my first husband and I moved to Oregon...somewhere in the mid-1970s. We stayed in touch through marriages, divorces, and other life-change units. Connected in a big way there in his city in 1989 when we both were free and we both were smokers, as shown frozen in time here. Then came the silent years that usually kill old friendships.....

Facebook. What can I say? It has the capacity to end those silent years and it brought my friend back to me last year. After a short course of getting-reacquainted messages I asked bfk if he still smokes and learned that he too quit. That was in the past.

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Liberty Island and Statue of Liberty National Monument

Mable's Scrapbook: Allen & Ginter cigarette ad

Allen and Ginter was the Richmond, Virginia, tobacco manufacturing firm formed by John Allen and Lewis Ginter in 1875 that created and marketed the first cigarette cards for collecting and trading. Some of the cards in the series include Charles Comiskey, Cap Anson, Jack Glasscock, and Buffalo Bill.

The company also offered a prize for the invention of a machine able to roll cigarettes (which until then had been hand-rolled). James Albert Bonsack won this prize with his 1880/81 invention. Because it was not completely reliable, all but one of the large tobacco manufacturers declined to buy the machine. James Buchanan Duke did buy this cigarette rolling machine in 1885 and used it to great success; by 1890 he had consolidated his four major competitors, including Allen & Ginter, and formed the American Tobacco Company. The "Allen & Ginter Company" was no more, but Lewis Ginter sat on the board of the American Tobacco Company.

The cigarette brands of Allen & Ginter included Richmond Gems, Virginia Brights, Perfection, Dandies and Little Beauties.

-Wikipedia




Today I am celebrating the 16th anniversary of when I quit smoking. The trick for me was a one-hour hypnosis session. Anyone out there thinking of saying goodbye forever to nicotine? Commit to it, do it, struggle with it, get through it, and move beyond it.


Smoking.
You should never starteth it, but if you did you can quiteth it.............

Tobacco drieth the brain, dimmeth the sight, vitiateth the smell, hurteth the stomach, destroyeth the concoction, disturbeth the humors and spirits, corrupteth the breath, induceth a trembling of the limbs, exsiccateth the windpipe, lungs, and liver, annoyeth the milt, scorcheth the heart, and causeth the blood to be adjusted.

Tobias Venner, (1577-1660)
Via Recta ad Vitam Longam
Source: Bloomsbury book of quotations

Who was Mable? Background information.



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On Quitting Smoking

Tomorrow marks 15 years since I quit smoking. I am so grateful that I was able to do it, since I'd tried and failed a few times before my actual quit date.

I quit drinking over 22 years ago and it's a testament to the power of nicotine addiction that I was unable to stop smoking in conjunction with getting sober. My older brother, Tony, a recovering alcoholic for ten years longer than I, hasn't been able to quit cigarettes. I worry about him. He has been a faithful participant in AA meetings for decades; those meetings usually have blue air. There are some smoke-free AA meetings out there but the majority are not. I attended AA meetings every day for my first six weeks after leaving treatment, per agreement with that facility. I haven't been to an AA meeting since, and, for me, that has worked best. I realize that it's not for everyone, however. I just couldn't handle the smoke (and I was a heavy smoker in those days). I also rejected living my new life in flogging reference to the one I was blessed to leave behind, which is how the meetings felt to me.

One December day in 1984 I was having a smoke break with a co-worker out back of the building where we worked. One of the assistant directors, returning from lunch, breezed past me and said, Stop by my office on your way back to your desk. At his desk he turned his 18-month planner around to face me and barked, Pick the date you'll quit smoking and write it here on my calendar! I needed the night to think about a commitment that heavy but the next morning I returned to his office with my decision to quit the following March 19. It happened to be the birthday of my high school best friend, Bob, a non-smoking, non-drinking, sex-addicted Mormon. It seemed as good as any day and it gave me about three months to defer the misery.

Another work contact told me that he had been successful in quitting smoking through hypnosis. He had already lost part of his tongue and his taste buds to mouth cancer so he had a big incentive. His story added strength to my own incentive. I tucked away the name of his psychologist/hypnotist in Portland, Oregon, and that is who I called for an appointment when March rolled around.

I took a day of vacation from work and asked my mother (a heavy smoker until some years later when she went cold turkey) to come along for the drive and lunch after my appointment. The hypnotist's office overlooked the Willamette River and his suite was professional and relaxing. I swear that I was awake the entire time and I remember what he was saying as my arms felt heavier and heavier. It wasn't creepy as some might suspect. I was feeling extremely relaxed when I heard my own voice in my right ear chirp in a demanding way, I want a cigarette! What a strange thing that was. I internally shouted NO. And the main struggle was over. The $150 I paid that day was so worth the cost, and whatever inflation has increased similar treatment to these days would still be worth the cost for anyone seriously ready to quit.

There were absolutely some difficult times after the hypnosis when the craving was strong. I have found that, all these years later, there are moments of high excitability when I have a sense that things are all wrong -- then I realize it's that old craving. I find it remarkable, the hold of addiction. But I never cheated, not even one puff, since the day I quit. I knew I didn't dare because that was my one best chance. (As they say in AA, There's only one first kiss.)

If anyone reads this who is thinking about quitting smoking (or drinking/drugs) you must know that you have a right to good health. You can do it.

For those who don't smoke, the dying plea from actor Yul Brenner should be enough to convince you (or someone you care about) never to start. Paste this link into your browser -- http://youtube.com/watch?v=JNjunlWUJJI

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