One thing that really surprises me these days is seeing someone light up a cigarette. 
After all the medical evidence linking tobacco and smoking to various cancers and diseases -- evidence that continues to mount -- it's just hard to believe that someone would puff on what we used to refer to as a cancer stick.
Confession time. I used to smoke. I quit nearly 34 years ago. Why? I was puffing a cigarette and my 2-year-old son, Justin, picked up a popsicle stick and mimicked me. My wife was eight-months along with our second son, Sean, and I decided right then and there that I wasn't going to influence my children to become smokers.
That was in August 1978. I haven't had a cigarette since then. That's not to say I haven't been exposed to second-hand smoke on a few occasions. But I try to avoid places where people can be so inconsiderate of others that they light up and puff away.
I'm not going to go over the statistics. You can read about them on the National Cancer Institute or American Cancer Society websites. Anyway, I'm not sure numbers, even overwhelming figures, can convince people to give up that nasty habit.
Besides, we all know smoking is harmful -- even deadly -- to one's health. And to the one's you love and care about.
Until the next time...
