Smoking
Smoking
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In an earlier post I mentioned that I would tell my grandkids the story of why I don't think I ever took up smoking. I will tell them on Thursday...but you lucky folks on RP...get the early scoop. LOL
First, those of you who are 65 and older, know that when we were kids, everybody smoked. Ashtrays were all over the house, and cars had both a cigarette lighter and that big slide out ashtray. Radios were an option in a car or truck... but not Ashtrays! They even had them in the arm rests of the back seat.
Carson smoked on TV. Heck even the News folks smoked on their tiny segments. News wasn't hours long, and on all day when I was a kid. So you saw smoking everywhere. By everybody. Even pregnant women. Nobody knew.
So with that in mind...here is the event, that in my mind- cemented my will to never take a single puff off a cigarette. Even the "wrinkled smelly kind " that we called: Mary Jane, and you rolled with your own papers like in Cowboy Movies. Never tried that either. But I digress.
It was winter. Cold. Snowing. Freezing. A typical Winter's Day in Northeast Ohio in February. It was 1957. No giant interstate highways, or even Turnpikes...yet. So when you went from where we lived in the inner city, to the small town that my Sister and her hubby and two babies lived, well, it took a good two hours. Two hours of winding backroads. Two lane roads with lots of curves, fields, and trees. Speed limit: 35 mph.
So Dad and Mom in the front, and 8 kids crammed into every available space, including the "shelf" under the back window. One of us would just lay across that and ....sleep.
So Mom and Dad smoked. My older sister smoked, so did my older brother. And my Sister's friend who came along for the ride...smoked. So did my brother's friend. So Six people were smoking. And I was the second littlest.
My dad kept the driver vent window cracked. But in the back seat, it was just a cloud. Then I remember my brother saying:
"Dad...Kevin is like green looking."
"Probably car sick. I will pull over when we get somewhere safe."
A few minutes go by.
I remember my brother saying:
"Dad, I don't think he is breathing."
I heard my sister Janie scream. And I remember her turning my head to look at me.
"Dad, I think he is dead!"
My Dad must have yanked the wheel...and we pulled right into someone front yard piled with snow.
My Oldest brother got out first, opened the door on my side, and just yanked me out of the car and flung me into a snowdrift a few feet away. When I opened my eyes...I saw my whole family crowded around me. Behind them, the car looked like it was on fire. Smoke drifted out of the roof of the car...through all the open doors. Like a fog had settled right over our car.
My Sister's friend looked back at the car and said:
"That's a lot of smoke."
Everyone turned and looked.
"Maybe that's why he couldn't breathe."
So we drove the last forty five minutes to my Sister's house. All the windows down. And everyone mad at me. They couldn't smoke, because I couldn't breathe. We all were freezing. But my Dad didn't want to take chances with me. I had the croup earlier that year that put me in the hospital...so he thought my lungs might not be up to it.
When we got to AnnMarie's house, we were all popsicles. They all told the story of me turning green and being flung into a snowdrift. Just a lump of winter clothes with a green face and red hair.
So it was decided I would stay there for the night. And Carl would drive me home, because he could go the whole drive without smoking. Of course my sister babied me that night....I got extra ice cream...and popcorn. And I stayed up to the Ungodly hour of 8:30 PM. And I got to watch TV after supper...and who gets to do that if you are five years old and some change.
I still remember that long silent drive with the windows down. Nobody blamed me...but they were all mad at me. And I remember not breathing for a bit.
So...I don't smoke. And I think that car ride is the reason. And that is what I will tell my grandkids.
First, those of you who are 65 and older, know that when we were kids, everybody smoked. Ashtrays were all over the house, and cars had both a cigarette lighter and that big slide out ashtray. Radios were an option in a car or truck... but not Ashtrays! They even had them in the arm rests of the back seat.
Carson smoked on TV. Heck even the News folks smoked on their tiny segments. News wasn't hours long, and on all day when I was a kid. So you saw smoking everywhere. By everybody. Even pregnant women. Nobody knew.
So with that in mind...here is the event, that in my mind- cemented my will to never take a single puff off a cigarette. Even the "wrinkled smelly kind " that we called: Mary Jane, and you rolled with your own papers like in Cowboy Movies. Never tried that either. But I digress.
It was winter. Cold. Snowing. Freezing. A typical Winter's Day in Northeast Ohio in February. It was 1957. No giant interstate highways, or even Turnpikes...yet. So when you went from where we lived in the inner city, to the small town that my Sister and her hubby and two babies lived, well, it took a good two hours. Two hours of winding backroads. Two lane roads with lots of curves, fields, and trees. Speed limit: 35 mph.
So Dad and Mom in the front, and 8 kids crammed into every available space, including the "shelf" under the back window. One of us would just lay across that and ....sleep.
So Mom and Dad smoked. My older sister smoked, so did my older brother. And my Sister's friend who came along for the ride...smoked. So did my brother's friend. So Six people were smoking. And I was the second littlest.
My dad kept the driver vent window cracked. But in the back seat, it was just a cloud. Then I remember my brother saying:
"Dad...Kevin is like green looking."
"Probably car sick. I will pull over when we get somewhere safe."
A few minutes go by.
I remember my brother saying:
"Dad, I don't think he is breathing."
I heard my sister Janie scream. And I remember her turning my head to look at me.
"Dad, I think he is dead!"
My Dad must have yanked the wheel...and we pulled right into someone front yard piled with snow.
My Oldest brother got out first, opened the door on my side, and just yanked me out of the car and flung me into a snowdrift a few feet away. When I opened my eyes...I saw my whole family crowded around me. Behind them, the car looked like it was on fire. Smoke drifted out of the roof of the car...through all the open doors. Like a fog had settled right over our car.
My Sister's friend looked back at the car and said:
"That's a lot of smoke."
Everyone turned and looked.
"Maybe that's why he couldn't breathe."
So we drove the last forty five minutes to my Sister's house. All the windows down. And everyone mad at me. They couldn't smoke, because I couldn't breathe. We all were freezing. But my Dad didn't want to take chances with me. I had the croup earlier that year that put me in the hospital...so he thought my lungs might not be up to it.
When we got to AnnMarie's house, we were all popsicles. They all told the story of me turning green and being flung into a snowdrift. Just a lump of winter clothes with a green face and red hair.
So it was decided I would stay there for the night. And Carl would drive me home, because he could go the whole drive without smoking. Of course my sister babied me that night....I got extra ice cream...and popcorn. And I stayed up to the Ungodly hour of 8:30 PM. And I got to watch TV after supper...and who gets to do that if you are five years old and some change.
I still remember that long silent drive with the windows down. Nobody blamed me...but they were all mad at me. And I remember not breathing for a bit.
So...I don't smoke. And I think that car ride is the reason. And that is what I will tell my grandkids.
Smoking
Children
Health
Cars
Memories
Edited 21 d ago
Posted 21 d ago
Responses: 3
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I remember those days and trips. I was never tempted to smoke because I was an athlete in high school and college but fell off the wagon about a week after my last college game.....because like everyone else, the girl I was dating smoked. Smoking for me only lasted a little over a year though. I was camping in Sequoia National Park with my fiance, now wife, we both forgot our toothbrushes, and the taste of cigarettes was so bad we both quit cold turkey that morning. Neither one of us has touched a cigarette since and our 56th anniversary is next weekend.
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SGT Kevin Hughes
Wow! That is awesome. And happy 56th Anniversary too! I never dated anyone who smoked. In fact, even a few girls I really liked, surprised me with pulling out a cigarette...and that was that. Kathy was like you and your wife. She didn't smoke when I first met her...and took it up about ten years into our marriage... she never smoked much. A pack would last her like three months. But one day Kevina said to her: "If you love us so much , why do you smoke? "and that was that.
But she says she misses them. Not me. LOL
But she says she misses them. Not me. LOL
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SGT Kevin Hughes
Unfortunately for me and definitely not at all good for my health I took up smoking at 12 years of age stealing my dear old dad’s Chesterfields,followed that brilliant idea a year later with alcohol,drinking awful Narragansett ale behind the local laundromat,and Thunder Bird wine in a neighborhood hangout,finally saw the light for both addictions AA program at 33 and those damn cancer sticks at 43,Welcome home Brothers.
Unfortunately for me and definitely not at all good for my health I took up smoking at 12 years of age stealing my dear old dad’s Chesterfields,followed that brilliant idea a year later with alcohol,drinking awful Narragansett ale behind the local laundromat,and Thunder Bird wine in a neighborhood hangout,finally saw the light for both addictions AA program at 33 and those damn cancer sticks at 43,Welcome home Brothers.
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SGT Kevin Hughes
Glad you saw the light. I know guys who have taken a bullet...but couldn't stop smoking. And drinking...that's a slug fest for someone trying to stop. Salute for both!
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SGT Philip Roncari
SGT Kevin Hughes
Funny thing was the cigarettes were a lot harder to give up but if you look at it logically you can’t be thrown in jail with assault charges for smoking,as this old grunt was,so there’s that! Be Well Brother.
Funny thing was the cigarettes were a lot harder to give up but if you look at it logically you can’t be thrown in jail with assault charges for smoking,as this old grunt was,so there’s that! Be Well Brother.
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My mom smoked, dad never touched a cigarette. At 10 I was sneaking a few cigs from mom. I could also buy them from a machine.
When I was playing sports no cigarettes, when not playing I smoked.
I quit many times, but eventually would give in. I finally heard a guy on the radio talking about how to quit; tell yourself no for 10 minutes. Trust me, there are lot of 10 minute time periods in 24 hours. It also didn’t hurt that the Air Force outlawed smoking in the hospitals.
Haven’t had one since the first of December of 1986.
When I was playing sports no cigarettes, when not playing I smoked.
I quit many times, but eventually would give in. I finally heard a guy on the radio talking about how to quit; tell yourself no for 10 minutes. Trust me, there are lot of 10 minute time periods in 24 hours. It also didn’t hurt that the Air Force outlawed smoking in the hospitals.
Haven’t had one since the first of December of 1986.
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SGT Kevin Hughes
Proud of you. Made me laugh tho when you said: "Trust me, there are a lot of ten minute time periods in 24 hours." I didn't mean to laugh, but man, that had to be rough. Like that video where the little kids had to not eat a marshmallow for five minutes.
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