My Daughter Quit Smoking and I'm Proud of Her

I should preface this by saying that I am a smoker and have been a smoker since I was little. And yes I admit I enjoy it and although it's bad for me I still continue to smoke without any plans to quit. That being said, I've always told my daughters and their friends what a nasty habit it is and how they should never start in the first place. When I started in the 70's it was still socially acceptable to smoke, unlike now where it is not the PC thing to do. My oldest daughter has flirted with cigarettes off and on over the years but it's never become a habit for her. Allison is one of those rare people that can smoke one cigarette once every few weeks and not get addicted.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, my youngest daughter Jenny, started sneaking my cigarettes when she was 13. As I found out later, her and her best friend would sneak mine or the other mother's cigarettes and smoke them when no one was around. This apparently changed when the best friends mother found out and decided to buy her daughter cigarettes, which the friend was more than willing to begin sharing with Jenny. I never had any idea that Jenny was smoking, I guess she was a better sneaker than I ever was at that age, or maybe I was just clueless. But as smokers know, it doesn't take long for this terrbile habit to take hold and we get addicted. Last summer after Jenny turned 14 we decided to go visit my sister who lived in Fla for a weeks vacation. It was just Jenny and I since Allison had a job by then and couldn't get off work. The drive to Florida was 13 hours and we left at 7 in the morning planning to get to my sisters later that night. As we headed south from Cleveland and approaching the Kentucky border I lit up another cigarette and got this strange stare from Jenny. I asked her what was wrong and got the typical reply, "nothing." After a couple more minutes, she looks at me and stammers "mom i really need a cigarette."