Well, here we are at day five. Quitting right before the end of school was a great idea on D’s part. We were with the boys so much this weekend I never had a chance to miss my cigarette break.

Last night At-man began complaining that his throat started to hurt again. A quick trip to the doctor found that his strep was back. We just can’t seem to shake this thing. Em stayed with Grand mommy while we went in. I refuse to bring the “not sick” kid with us to the doctor; it’s my feeble attempt to keep it to a one ill child at a time type schedule.

When we returned to pick up Em, At-man played up the sick factor. He knew if he acted as pitiful as possible he could buy himself an afternoon at Grand mommy’s house. I took Em home with me because he is going through a phase in which he is only capable of sleeping in his house, in his own crib. Once down in the crib, the kid will sleep for about 3 hours without much trouble.

My usual routine in this situation would be to wait until Em falls asleep and then run out back with the news paper and light up. Then I go inside, run on the treadmill for about an hour, smoke another one and then take a shower and brush my teeth so as to fool myself into thinking I don’t smell like a big cigarette when I go in to retrieve Em when he wakes up.

Today was the first day I faced being all alone at smoke time. I cannot say I didn’t miss it, but since we tossed all traces of anything even remotely Marlboro-y from the house, I couldn’t have blown it even if I wanted to. I got right on the treadmill and ran my ass off. When I thought I would quit, I just kept running. What the hell? I didn’t have to hurry up and finish so I could smoke. I can run as long as I want to now. I even had enough time to blow dry my hair after my shower. A whole new world has opened up over here. I have always wondered how people have time to accomplish so much but…holy shit! When you don’t have to stand in your backyard smoking every night you can do stuff! Stuff! A lot of it! It’s so cool, this stuff that gets done.

So, it’s gong pretty well. I think as long as we don’t find ourselves in any “bar type” situations for the next couple of years or so it will all be o.k. We are going to a concert next week, our first smokeless social situation. I’m sure it will be fine. The headliners have a particularly large “Goth” following and nothing makes me want a cigarette less than watching a bunch of fat, depressed, makeup wearing kids dressed all in black and chain smoking. I’ll keep you all posted, and I promise to try and write about something else soon.