September 17, 1989
30 years ago today
It was Sunday. I was 2 weeks into my Senior year of High School. My mom had just finished a year round of chemo for her breast cancer, and things were looking pretty good. I was headed to a nice college next year, was going on a date with my hottie girlfriend (now my wife) that night. My parents were headed to see my brother in a city about 50 miles away. And then I got the call... my dad had a heart attack and passed away. At 51 years old. Nicotine.
At the time, I was balls deep in my own nicotine addiction, but my dad huffed on a pipe like kids huff on juuls these days. It was his friend, and it contributed to his heart problems. He was young, in pretty good shape, thin, exercised, but his blood pressure and cholesterol were all sky high no matter what he did. September 17, 1989 was a day that changed my life forever. Nicotine took another family member, my closest one, and altered my life in ways that I wouldn't have imagined. But... it didn't make me quit chewing.
That happened 20 some odd years later, when my doctor told me that I was on the same path that my dad was on. So... thanks to this website and all of you, I did the un-doable. I quit. All in, I came on this site and listened, was schooled, and followed the program. 2.460 days later, I haven't missed posting in April 2013 one single day, and I won't. That is the least I can do to honor myself, my family, and my dad... because I managed to do something that he couldn't.
These days, quitting is so easy. It seems so ridiculous that I indulged in a filthy, dangerous, expensive addiction when I knew better. But thats what nicotine does... hooks us young, and then it kills us young. Well, not me... Kodiak. I am winning.
Rest in peace, dad.
Michael
