I posted this on the forum, but realized, it was really more appropriate here, in my blog.

Yesterday marked my eight month anniversary since I quit smoking. I was a pack and a half a day smoker, for 22 years. Medically, that means I smoked for "33 years".

The day I quit was my son's graduation day. I almost died that day. I was very, very sick. I realized I had no right to take my children's mother away. So I threw away my cigarettes and have never looked back.

I joined a website called quitnet, which has a cool little gadget which tells you how many cigarettes you have not smoked since you quit, how much you've saved, etc. Here are my stats:

As of today, I have gone 246 days without a cigarette. I have not smoked 8,609 cigarettes that I would otherwise have inhaled into my poor lungs. I have saved $4,132.80, and I have given myself at least two months, five days and 18 hours longer to live.

It has not been the easiest thing. I still crave them now and then. But when the craving comes, I brush it away. It is never that hard. Living is more important than smoking.