~ My BFF Barb ~

We’re getting to the age where we don’t just visit the doctor – everything has to be a “procedure”.

I got a call from my best friend in the world this week – Barb from Florida. She was having one of those.

Early in the morning the day of her procedure she started hacking away with her morning ritual -- the smoker’s cough. The anesthesiologist stops things, announces to the OR “we have a smoker” and orders a breathing treatment.

The doctor then tells my friend she’s not going to give her a lecture on the hazards of smoking since she (Barb - a nurse) should already know better than most.

Apparantly, this interaction was enough to provide Barbi with A 'Teachable' Moment of her own.

Although aware of the multitude of negative effects smoking causes, Barb was less than aware of the coughing and wheezing she was experiencing on a daily basis. Let’s just call this the denial of an addict.

We’ve all been there – I know I have. I may have been one of the worst. I was taking hits of my inhaler before and after each cigarette. It was just to the point of being ridiculous. I don’t know who, if anyone, has been following me for the past five months but if you have you may remember that “ridiculous” was my word for the month for July.

(~Re-Born on the 4th of July~) “As for my own struggle with this powerful addiction
the one word that keeps coming to mind is ’Ridiculous” … basically, I’ve spent
nearly 30 years killing myself, as my hypnotherapist put it; “on an installment
plan” … which defies all common sense reasoning.”

It’s a bit ironic Barb called me with this story this week; I told her beginning this Saturday I was going to dedicate the rest of the month of December to “Preparing To Quit:” a countdown to the New Year.

Once again I am encouraging Barb (and anyone else with a desire to finally become smoke free) to follow along here and hopefully I can inspire her to quit and we can be support for a better life for each other.

There's nobody in this world I love and adore like

my BFF Barb

and I want us to be
Best Friends Forever

-- for a long, long time.