Where did March go? I cannot believe Holy Week and Easter are soon upon us...this has been a particularly beautiful Lent; almost wishing it could go on. Our 13 Hours Devotion was an incredible experience all around. There were 3 visiting priests hearing confessions an hour before the closing Mass. The processional, then, saw six priests and our permanent deacon enter the sanctuary...what a sight! I can't remember the last time there were six priests around the altar during the consecration, or Communion being distributed ONLY by priests...it was a memory I'll treasure. Oh, and to top it off, the Mass was offered for the intention of my sil, +Lilia! How great was that?? So I've been coming down all week from that high!
My friend with bronchitis on the 11th was diagnosed with pneumonia on the 23rd...no hospitalization, tho...seems folks get sent home with antibiotics & told to rest. In the meantime I've learned of at least 3 others with pneumonia who've not been hospitalized...scares the life out of me...we've had warm/cool/cold weather, which fakes people out thinking spring is here...it's NOT, folks! Dress warmly, get plenty of rest, drink lots of fluids, eat healthy & take a daily vitamin. Common sense, for heaven's sake.
On the phone Wed. I gave my friend a double-whammy...sympathy & a dutch uncle talk: "QUIT SMOKING!!!!!" She tried to switch the conversation to another topic & I called her on it...talk about stubborn...just like I was. lol
"Oh, but I've cut way back," she says (mmm...perhaps...but the reality is, you're still smoking, Deb). "But I'm not ready," she says (When will you be, Deb?)(sigh).
So, Deb, you were planning to go to a conference this weekend...you won't now, will you, since you have pneumonia?? "Oh, yes I AM! I'll be all better by then." (WHAT??? In three days??? Come on...I can't wait to hear what that already deep watery cough sounds like, come Monday.) The woman needs our prayers...lots of our prayers, please.
Gratitude continues for my quit...it is only by God's grace working through the people in my life that I can say today that I am a quitter. There is such freedom in recovery from the addiction to nicotine--words cannot describe.
Do WITS (Whatever It TakeS), WIN (Whatever Is Necessary)...just don't smoke...feel free to reply to this post with your own thoughts/tips/inspiration for nic addicts. That's what this blog is for.
Have a great TGISF (Thank God It's Smokefree Friday)!
BTW, I'm no longer posting on the WebMD Smoking Cessation Support Group Message Board. Losing messages before they were posted became too frustrating...it was not a happy decision on my part, but I needed to maintain my sanity. :o)
Still a Grateful Quitter--Mary Ann
Smoked 44+yrs.; 7+yrs. smokefree (by God's grace & The Land O'Smokeless, one day/hr/min/sec at a time); 86721 not smoked; $15,610+ saved; 43W 2h 50m added to the end of my life, God willing!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Hello...
Has been a few days since my last post...gears are meshing toward observance of 13 Hours Devotion for our six parishes, to be held at my parish, Saint James, in a few weeks...praying volunteers rise up & affix their signatures to the many vacant spots on the signup sheets! Please, Lord...
Received a good report at 6-mo. eye exam this morning...don't have to return for a year unless I notice any change in my eyesight.
A smoking friend is currently dealing with a bad cold...prayers it won't turn into another bout with bronchitis...there've been too many of them this winter.
To all quitters: Keep kickin' nic where it hurts: Right in his bony, bony BUTT!!
He deserves nothing but our contempt!
--Still a Grateful Quitter--Mary Ann
Received a good report at 6-mo. eye exam this morning...don't have to return for a year unless I notice any change in my eyesight.
A smoking friend is currently dealing with a bad cold...prayers it won't turn into another bout with bronchitis...there've been too many of them this winter.
To all quitters: Keep kickin' nic where it hurts: Right in his bony, bony BUTT!!
He deserves nothing but our contempt!
--Still a Grateful Quitter--Mary Ann
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Here's an Oldie for you...
Look what I found in my archives:
Ode to All Quitters
When I was young and in my prime
All rosy-cheecked & dewy,
I set upon a crooked path
which turned my life all screwy.
"Pray, tell us please," you plainly ask,
"What was the heinous crime?"
Why, nothing more and nothing less
Than buying nic's pure slime.
The lies he sold were of the kind
To turn one's head and flatter.
He said, "If you will join with me
Your body won't grow fatter."
He further said, "I'll soothe your nerves,
I'll ease your freak-out stress.
Just take one puff. It's quite enough
To lift you from that mess."
Ah, through the years it added up,
The price I really paid.
The good news, tho, is that today
My life I would not trade.
"Why?" you ask. I'll tell you why:
5 years I am smokefree!!
A sweet, sweet gift contingent on
My WITS, my WIN, you see.
The stressors come, the stressors go,
But I don't plan on cavin'.
As long as there's TLOS
To be my smokefree haven.
***********************
Yes, I wrote that nearly 3 years ago! Oh, and here's what those acronyms stand for: Whatever It TakeS (WITS), Whatever Is Necessary (WIN), The Land Of Smokeless (TLOS, which is what a group of us quitters back in '01 named the smoking cessation support group message board on WebMD).
Hope you enjoyed an awesomely smokefree weekend. If you're still smoking? Well, bottom line, friend...you need to quit. Scroll through my blog, read the posts, and do the deal for yourself, your own WITS, WIN. Become a participant in your own miracle of smokefreedom. You can watch it happen one day/hr/min/sec at a time...there is nothing like it in the world! And there is nothing more beautiful than the courage to change.
--Still a Grateful Quitter--Mary Ann
Ode to All Quitters
When I was young and in my prime
All rosy-cheecked & dewy,
I set upon a crooked path
which turned my life all screwy.
"Pray, tell us please," you plainly ask,
"What was the heinous crime?"
Why, nothing more and nothing less
Than buying nic's pure slime.
The lies he sold were of the kind
To turn one's head and flatter.
He said, "If you will join with me
Your body won't grow fatter."
He further said, "I'll soothe your nerves,
I'll ease your freak-out stress.
Just take one puff. It's quite enough
To lift you from that mess."
Ah, through the years it added up,
The price I really paid.
The good news, tho, is that today
My life I would not trade.
"Why?" you ask. I'll tell you why:
5 years I am smokefree!!
A sweet, sweet gift contingent on
My WITS, my WIN, you see.
The stressors come, the stressors go,
But I don't plan on cavin'.
As long as there's TLOS
To be my smokefree haven.
***********************
Yes, I wrote that nearly 3 years ago! Oh, and here's what those acronyms stand for: Whatever It TakeS (WITS), Whatever Is Necessary (WIN), The Land Of Smokeless (TLOS, which is what a group of us quitters back in '01 named the smoking cessation support group message board on WebMD).
Hope you enjoyed an awesomely smokefree weekend. If you're still smoking? Well, bottom line, friend...you need to quit. Scroll through my blog, read the posts, and do the deal for yourself, your own WITS, WIN. Become a participant in your own miracle of smokefreedom. You can watch it happen one day/hr/min/sec at a time...there is nothing like it in the world! And there is nothing more beautiful than the courage to change.
--Still a Grateful Quitter--Mary Ann
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Heidy-ho...
good neighbor! Dang, the only time I can see Wilson is on Home Improvement reruns...I miss that dude.
The 69 pilgrims from our six-parish linkage are nearly four days into their trip to Roma...how well I remember our trek in 1996. Is the trip of a lifetime (thank you, Uncle Bill and Aunt Mabel) and one I shall never forget
How I wish I'd had a laptop back then...(still don't have one, actually). One of the parishioners is blogging whilst on the trip...it feels like she took all of us along with her! You can read (and travel) too...http://www.hejlikwoman.blogspot.com/
I was still smoking in 1996. If it hadn't been for someone (most likely my guardian angel) leaving the section of the New York Times containing the crossword puzzle and having a big bag of mints to suck on I might've croaked from a nicotine fit! That is a lonnnnnnggg flight, lemme tell ya.
That NYTimes crossword took me from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany to complete, but complete it, I did....and I kept it, too! Did I mention it was my first ever NYTimes crossword? They are tough.
Smoking in Rome...well, I'm surprised I didn't get lost, trying to sneak off to grab a smoke, excusing myself from the table to go outside to smoke, trying to hide the hand holding my cig kind of behind me, so no one would see. Good grief! I smelled like a chimney & didn't do the Spanish Steps cause I couldn't.
Still, I wouldn't have missed the trip for anything. The cradle of my faith...singing Gregorian chant at Mass in St. Peter's, being part of the group received in private audience by Pope John Paul II, and him shaking hands individually with the 200+ pilgrims encircling the room (the Sala Clementina) so that we could each have our pictures taken with His Holiness...and when he died (may he RIP), realizing that the room where he lay in state was the same room in which our audience was held...well, I cried my eyes out.
It took another 5 years for me to finally cooperate with God's will and kick nic(otine). On a daily basis I do my WITS, WIN to stay smokefree & leave the rest up to God. He hasn't failed me yet & I want it to stay that way.
If you're reading this and still puffing away I hope you'll take a serious look at yourself in the mirror. Lent is coming...a perfect time for turning over a new leaf and beginning a new life.
Lent is about conversion, so converting yourself from a smoker to a person who is smokefree fits right in. The smoking cessation support group message board over at WebMD is the place I found early in my quit...and it is there this wimp found HOPE. I realized that for me to stay smokefree over the long haul would mean serious nic maintenance on a daily basis.
Well, I'm grateful to say it's working! It has been 7 yrs., 9 mos. (one day/hr/min/sec at a time) since I smoked, thanks be to God, family, and friends.
You can do it...I did. If I can anybody can. Guaranteed. Pray for the willingness to be willing.
--Still a Grateful Quitter--Mary Ann
"I'd rather be a quitter with an occasional urge to smoke than a smoker with the constant desire to quit." --From Junkie Thinkin'
The 69 pilgrims from our six-parish linkage are nearly four days into their trip to Roma...how well I remember our trek in 1996. Is the trip of a lifetime (thank you, Uncle Bill and Aunt Mabel) and one I shall never forget
How I wish I'd had a laptop back then...(still don't have one, actually). One of the parishioners is blogging whilst on the trip...it feels like she took all of us along with her! You can read (and travel) too...http://www.hejlikwoman.blogspot.com/
I was still smoking in 1996. If it hadn't been for someone (most likely my guardian angel) leaving the section of the New York Times containing the crossword puzzle and having a big bag of mints to suck on I might've croaked from a nicotine fit! That is a lonnnnnnggg flight, lemme tell ya.
That NYTimes crossword took me from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany to complete, but complete it, I did....and I kept it, too! Did I mention it was my first ever NYTimes crossword? They are tough.
Smoking in Rome...well, I'm surprised I didn't get lost, trying to sneak off to grab a smoke, excusing myself from the table to go outside to smoke, trying to hide the hand holding my cig kind of behind me, so no one would see. Good grief! I smelled like a chimney & didn't do the Spanish Steps cause I couldn't.
Still, I wouldn't have missed the trip for anything. The cradle of my faith...singing Gregorian chant at Mass in St. Peter's, being part of the group received in private audience by Pope John Paul II, and him shaking hands individually with the 200+ pilgrims encircling the room (the Sala Clementina) so that we could each have our pictures taken with His Holiness...and when he died (may he RIP), realizing that the room where he lay in state was the same room in which our audience was held...well, I cried my eyes out.
It took another 5 years for me to finally cooperate with God's will and kick nic(otine). On a daily basis I do my WITS, WIN to stay smokefree & leave the rest up to God. He hasn't failed me yet & I want it to stay that way.
If you're reading this and still puffing away I hope you'll take a serious look at yourself in the mirror. Lent is coming...a perfect time for turning over a new leaf and beginning a new life.
Lent is about conversion, so converting yourself from a smoker to a person who is smokefree fits right in. The smoking cessation support group message board over at WebMD is the place I found early in my quit...and it is there this wimp found HOPE. I realized that for me to stay smokefree over the long haul would mean serious nic maintenance on a daily basis.
Well, I'm grateful to say it's working! It has been 7 yrs., 9 mos. (one day/hr/min/sec at a time) since I smoked, thanks be to God, family, and friends.
You can do it...I did. If I can anybody can. Guaranteed. Pray for the willingness to be willing.
--Still a Grateful Quitter--Mary Ann
"I'd rather be a quitter with an occasional urge to smoke than a smoker with the constant desire to quit." --From Junkie Thinkin'
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Isn't Quitting Smoking for Myself Selfish???
IMHO, no. Here's what I believe:
I must quit for myself *first*, rather than quit *for* someone else because, if I quit for someone else, I run a huge risk of setting myself up for a bigtime resentment. If I should happen to slip or relapse it is a quick hop to then blame someone else for my slip or relapse, rather than take responsibility for my action.
I tell myself (falsely, yes, but remember, as a nic addict I suffer from Junkie Thinkin'): "If so and so hadn't done such and such I wouldn't have slipped/relapsed. It's all their fault!"
When demon nic hears me say that he's as happy as a pig in slop!! He's hooked me right back into his clutches, onto one super slippery slope back to smoking. Have I been there?? Yes, I've been there, absolutely!
Here's one example: I direct our church choir. One Easter a female choir member missed the rehearsal where I apologized to everyone for any out-of-the-ordinary curtness/impatience they might witness on my part, urging them not to take it personally, merely to rest assured I would return to my sweet charming self before very long.
Anyway, at the end of the Easter Vigil service, one in which the choir executed their role beautifully, I was taking deep breaths, "coming down," as it were, thanking God for his goodness, basking in the awesome afterglow of a job well done. Said choir member approached me with, "You know, we were pretty worried about you for awhile there (what? what? I'm frantically trying to follow her train of thought, trying to pay attention to her)...that maybe you were heading for a nervous breakdown (what? what? what in heaven's name is she talking about?), cause you get so wigged out every year." I still wasn't able to focus on what the heck she was talking about, and, frankly, mentally dismissed her, as I didn't want to interrupt that awesome afterglow basking.
Well, no matter...nic(otine) was willing to wait. At least he waited til I started driving home...then he began sending niggling thoughts into my head..."how dare C. rain on my parade? What a nerve! I'm really ticked!" Oh, my friends, I bought into nic hook, line, and sinker...how insensitive of her to damage my sensitive ego...sheesh...I worked up such a froth I couldn't get to the mini-mart fast enough, where I threw my money on the counter & lit up faster than who laid the rail.
Now, think about it...I sure the heck didn't hurt C. by relapsing, did I? No. The only person I hurt was myself...she was out there doing life's happy dance while I wallowed in my own miserable self-pity.
What's really sad is that it took me another 9 years of smoking to figure that out. I'm a slooowwwwww learner. (groan)
So if anybody out there is reading this...quit for YOU...please, first and foremost. Queen Mum believed this, too. Your family, friends, co-workers, PETS (!) will reap the side benefits...but you must do it for YOU. Taking care of ourselves first keeps us stronger and healthier so that we can care for others. Many of us were never taught this, but it's merely common sense. We can't give what we don't have.
Feel free to post comments or share similar experiences.
--Still a Grateful Quitter--Mary Ann
I must quit for myself *first*, rather than quit *for* someone else because, if I quit for someone else, I run a huge risk of setting myself up for a bigtime resentment. If I should happen to slip or relapse it is a quick hop to then blame someone else for my slip or relapse, rather than take responsibility for my action.
I tell myself (falsely, yes, but remember, as a nic addict I suffer from Junkie Thinkin'): "If so and so hadn't done such and such I wouldn't have slipped/relapsed. It's all their fault!"
When demon nic hears me say that he's as happy as a pig in slop!! He's hooked me right back into his clutches, onto one super slippery slope back to smoking. Have I been there?? Yes, I've been there, absolutely!
Here's one example: I direct our church choir. One Easter a female choir member missed the rehearsal where I apologized to everyone for any out-of-the-ordinary curtness/impatience they might witness on my part, urging them not to take it personally, merely to rest assured I would return to my sweet charming self before very long.
Anyway, at the end of the Easter Vigil service, one in which the choir executed their role beautifully, I was taking deep breaths, "coming down," as it were, thanking God for his goodness, basking in the awesome afterglow of a job well done. Said choir member approached me with, "You know, we were pretty worried about you for awhile there (what? what? I'm frantically trying to follow her train of thought, trying to pay attention to her)...that maybe you were heading for a nervous breakdown (what? what? what in heaven's name is she talking about?), cause you get so wigged out every year." I still wasn't able to focus on what the heck she was talking about, and, frankly, mentally dismissed her, as I didn't want to interrupt that awesome afterglow basking.
Well, no matter...nic(otine) was willing to wait. At least he waited til I started driving home...then he began sending niggling thoughts into my head..."how dare C. rain on my parade? What a nerve! I'm really ticked!" Oh, my friends, I bought into nic hook, line, and sinker...how insensitive of her to damage my sensitive ego...sheesh...I worked up such a froth I couldn't get to the mini-mart fast enough, where I threw my money on the counter & lit up faster than who laid the rail.
Now, think about it...I sure the heck didn't hurt C. by relapsing, did I? No. The only person I hurt was myself...she was out there doing life's happy dance while I wallowed in my own miserable self-pity.
What's really sad is that it took me another 9 years of smoking to figure that out. I'm a slooowwwwww learner. (groan)
So if anybody out there is reading this...quit for YOU...please, first and foremost. Queen Mum believed this, too. Your family, friends, co-workers, PETS (!) will reap the side benefits...but you must do it for YOU. Taking care of ourselves first keeps us stronger and healthier so that we can care for others. Many of us were never taught this, but it's merely common sense. We can't give what we don't have.
Feel free to post comments or share similar experiences.
--Still a Grateful Quitter--Mary Ann
Saturday, February 7, 2009
A Visit to the Queen...
For a few days I'll have this photo of Queen Mum n'me posted on my profile page in addition to here. What a twinkle in her eye...and what a peach...a twinkly peach! lol Oh, and catch the notebook on the sofa...it contained board posts, messages from TLOS inhabitants, poetry, our songs, Junkie Thinkin', etc. Our gift to her for the momentous occasion. You folks were all right there with me that day.
On his WebMD entry Mike noted her sense of humor...right on, Mike! A number of times over the years she & I had phone conversations...the first half of each spent bemoaning our current particular fates (too hot/too cold/construction workers & jackhammers right outside my window/griping about the new board format/politics/politicians/kids/etc., etc., etc)(or read, "waaah, waaah, waaah!"). The last half of those conversations lightened up considerably, aka , "Didja hear the one about the.....???" Along with smart-ass comments on anything/everything, and pshaw-ing our current particular fates we'd finally say good-bye teary-eyed from laughing our heads off.
Sure beats the alternative, right? Right, Arleen!! LOL
Have a great smokefree Saturday, everyone...our Queen would've wanted it so.
--Still a Grateful Quitter--Mary Ann
Friday, February 6, 2009
To Arleen...
Folks are stopping in to share memories over on the WebMD board:
http://boards.webmd.com/webx/topics/hd/General-Health/Smoking-Cessation-Support-Group/
Be sure to check them out...under "In Memoriam" thread.
I'm tracking down Arleen's obituary (hoping it's a fruitful quest) & will keep you informed.
I am most grateful to know she is now with Sherrie...she missed her daughter something fierce. Her younger daughter, Linda, still lives in the CA area, but have no other knowledge of her.
Am not feeling any urges to smoke (thank you, God)...just sadness, emptiness, loss...like I imagine most all of us are feeling.
--Still a Grateful Quitter--Mary Ann
http://boards.webmd.com/webx/topics/hd/General-Health/Smoking-Cessation-Support-Group/
Be sure to check them out...under "In Memoriam" thread.
I'm tracking down Arleen's obituary (hoping it's a fruitful quest) & will keep you informed.
I am most grateful to know she is now with Sherrie...she missed her daughter something fierce. Her younger daughter, Linda, still lives in the CA area, but have no other knowledge of her.
Am not feeling any urges to smoke (thank you, God)...just sadness, emptiness, loss...like I imagine most all of us are feeling.
--Still a Grateful Quitter--Mary Ann
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