Bandit,
I have a very similar story to you. Met my wife in 2003, I was in the Navy and smoked quite a bit. Well after realizing my then girlfriend, now wife was the one, she told me in no uncertain terms that my smoking was ok for her, but she preferred that I quit. So I did, well sort of, I went straight into dipping. My wife believes to this day that I quit nicotine for good since January 2004! That's couldn't be further from the truth. Anyway the point of my reply is to tell you that you are most definitely not alone. There are quite a few people on here who share a similar story. I myself am ashamed that I share everything with my wife, that is minus this addiction. I go out to sea still with the military though I am no longer enlisted. Guess what? When I go to sea I gave my gums a rest and picked back up smoking! Talk about stupid right? Well we both know how strong that Nic Bitch is. Anyway, I have an awful lot of unsupervised time from my spouse as well. I am 41 days into my quit and so far this site and all the great people on it have kept me honest when I couldn't even keep myself honest. I have faced some significant challenges thus far such as my wife going out of town for a week on business, having to get out to sea with the Navy again, and had to deal with visiting in-laws. Guess what though, I am still quit! If I can get through the three largest triggers that always drove me to the nic bitch, you can too.
A few years back I had a similar run-in with an insurance company, like sts, I "quit" for 96 hours so that I could pass the screening! I remember eating a lot of beef jerky, and actually sitting in my office thinking about next week when I could dip again. Hang in there brother, post roll, keep your word and only worry about today.
Last thing I wanted to address, I still have yet to tell my wife about my quit. I admit I am ashamed that I couldn't man up and just tell her that I was doing it, or share with her the joy I have felt since quitting. My advice, and take this for what its worth, is you determine how, when, and where you want to tell your wife, if ever. It is not up to me or anyone else to persuade you into fessing up. The longer I have gone into this quit the more focused I find myself and I have set a goal that when I reach 1 year clean, I am taking a spur of the moment vacation to celebrate, and that morning I will share with my wife the news as to why. I know even a year of being clean isn't enough to erase the mistrust she may (and frankly has the right to) feel. That's my burden and worry though, all of us are in different situations. Funny how many closet dippers there are/were. Man, I thought I was alone! Best of luck to you, if you need any help or just want to shoot the shit, PM me.
