Thank you for smoking

I loved that movie. Did you see it? I just thought of it again recently as Aaron Eckhart is starring in a new movie with Jennifer Aniston, this time a love story.

I love smoking cigarettes but I know they are bad for me, therefore, I do not smoke. I would like to smoke, and think fondly of Burgess Meredith in Grumpier Old Men, as he complains about smoking for the vast majority of his long life (at about age 95) with no negative ramifications. Lovely fairytale, yes? I wish it were true.

I have been sharing my love of smoking with my clients who want to quit, and they tell me it gives them hope. I tell them that they don't have to quit all at once, that they can take their time, and that gives them hope too.

Eventually, my clients quit smoking. Some quit right away. They all quit eventually. And as Burgess Meredith's character in Grumpier Old Men found out, God did not forget about him. Let's be gentle with ourselves, but let's stick around here for a while.