I gotta get this off my chest. My wife and everyone else I've talked to about it, including my parents, my shrink and councelor (yes I put in an emergency call to both last night) laughed about it and said I did nothing wrong, but the guilt of this stupid action is tearing me up, so here goes...
First off, I work with my mom and Dad in the company business out of their home. Since the day I quit I have tried unsuccessfully to get my mom to quit smoking. She's smoked for 46 and simply tells me "Craig I DON'T WANT TO QUIT. NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!!!". I keep bugging her on it not but to no avail.
Yesterday, late afternoon I was finishing up some work on my moms computer at work. I saw what looked like a fake white cigarette sitting on my moms desk.
You see, throughout my youth my mom, would half ass attempt to quit or cut down anyway, by buying this paper cigarette that I guess was supposed to simulate filling the oral void of not smoking and having a cig hang out of your mouth??? When we were kids every so often my mom would bust this thing out (when she was feeling guilty I guess) and me and my brothers would ask, "why are you having a candy cigarette?". She would tell us to "SHUT UP!!!".
So when I saw this cheesy thing on her
desk where I was working I thought "oh boy, looks like moms feeling guilty again".
A minute later my Dad was walking down the hall thinking my Mom was in the office and I guess he had a question for her and said "Hey Nance" (my moms name is Nancy).
Like a dope trying to be funny I put the fake cig in my mouth, swung around in my chair and said "Yes Howard" (my Dads name is Howard). He laugghed but as I said those words a small plume of vapor came out of my mouth. Confused I asked my Dad, "what the fuck was that?". He laughed and said, "it's your moms new toy, an electronic cigarette".
HOLY FUCK!!!!
I immediately ran to the bathroom and started to suck on a bar of soap and flush my mouth out. I put nicotine vapor in my mouth!!! I had an immediate anxiety attack and stated to cry. My parents were baffled. My mom even said "Jesus Christ Craig, grow up!!!"
I called my wife in tears and she was and still is baffled as well as to why I was and still am so upset. I am physically shaking ask I type this right now.
I have d bag buddies who use those stupid e cigs but they didn't look like my moms cheesy ass thing. Theirs are kind of stream lined looking and longer with some kind of oil thing.
I swear to all that is holy that I did not know this white fake cigarette was an e cig. I thought it was her dumb ass fake cig again.
I also did not "puff" or take drag of this thing, it was literally in my mouth for 15 seconds. I simply put it in my mouth trying to be funny and I the process must have pulled a little bit of the vapor out. heck I've never even smoked before so I don't even know how to inhale a cigarette. I got no buzz or nicotine rush from this thing. Like I said once I saw that vapor and my Dad told me what it was I freaked the fuck out and sucked on a bar of soap.
Is this a cave? God I hope not.
I wasn't jonsing for some chew, I wasn't stressing out over something, I didn't say "fuck it" and ignore all that I have learned here, or not use all the tools at my disposal. Hell I dont even think I inhaled the son of a bitch, and really the only thing I was trying to do was make my old man laugh. Had I known that was an e cig, I never would have touched it.
I've been on the brink of a cave before and pulled myself out of it by coming here. I remember one time very vividly where I was parked at a 7-11 and I texted Wedgie and told him I was gonna buy a can because everyone around me was enjoying nicotine and I was gonna too. He talked me out of it, thank God. Their have been other times I've been on the brink, and came here and read and came to my senses.
I know what to do when a true crave comes and "cave" enters the brain. To be honest that has not happened to me since about day 150, and it didn't happen to me yesterday afternoon either. I was simply trying to be funny.
My wife says I'm a fool for sharing what happened yesterday, but IÂ can't help it. I've been honest about every ounce of my quit since my first day here and I'm just doing the same now.
I literally was up all night debating what to say, if anything. I decided on the long version of the truth.
Holy shit am I shaking like a leaf, but I HAD to get this off my chest. Thanks for listening.
Craig