I was fresh out of high school and exploring the freedom of being in the “real world” of college. I remember walking along the gazebos in front of our uni building and seeing all the senior girls with cigarette sticks in their hands. They looked poised and sophisticated.
Of course, I knew the hazards of smoking. I learned that in gradeschool health class. My parents didn’t smoke. But I haven’t tried it and I was curious. If it was that bad, then why were they all doing it?
So one day, my classmates and I huddled after class bent on trying how to smoke. I can’t even remember what kind of cigarettes we tried then. I balanced the stick between my index and middle finger trying to look all poised and sophisticated.
Then I took my first hit. Inhale. Blow it out. Cough. I tried a second time. Inhale. Blow it out. More cough. I gave up. It felt like putting a jeep’s pipe in my mouth. It was very bad. Very. Very. Bad. How could people stand this toxic stuff?
I washed my hand but it still smelled like smoke hours after. I realized I would have smelled like a walking pipe if I had finished the whole stick. I decided then and there that there was nothing poised and sophisticated about smoking. Not cool at all.
Even when I started working, I was surrounded by people who smoked to get through the long hours. But no amount of sleeplessness could make me do it. It just didn’t make sense to me. I always avoided hanging out at the lung cancer center gazebo which became the default smoking area for all employees.
I would also often avoid people who smoke, especially those who carelessly blow their smoke in anyone’s face. I don’t care if you’r smoking cheap Hope or pricey Opus X. Secondhand smoke is all the same, it can kill.
Good thing Kernan doesn’t smoke. Sometimes he would (afterwhich I’d get really, really pissed) but ever since he started running and gunning for a healthy lifestyle, he stopped completely.
The only thing we have to contend with are the people around us who do. Once, hubby had an all nighter meeting with some smokers and he came down with a bad cough that lasted a week. 
Another day, I saw Jamaine pretending to smoke with a wafer stick. Previously, she saw an elder smoking during a family visit. Good thing she forgot about it eventually.
The best we can do is keep our home smoke free and set a good example for the kids. When they grow up, they can decide for themselves. But I’m pretty sure they’ll be rewinding the same scene I had years ago. 
