Gayle, I told my mom that tonight and she said she knows
I asked if she's had an urge at all to smoke yet and she said no, and she didn't get any headaches today.
Shada... I have not smoked, nor will I ever, but I know many people with many different addictions and I do realize how hard it is to stop. Nicotine is a drug... even more addictive than cocaine or heroin... but it is legal. Nonetheless, it's still a drug, and it kills more people than alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, homicide, and illegal narcotics combined (according to the american cancer society).
I need my mom to know how much better she can feel without the cigarettes, how much more energy she can have, how she doesn't have to rely on nicotine to get through her day.
It's not like I've blocked her out of my life completely. It stresses ME out to have to be around her smoking and knowing what she's doing to herself. It stresses HER out to try to hide it from me whenever I'm around. We talk on the phone almost daily. I'm still supporting her. We don't live anywhere near each other so I'm not going out of my way to avoid her. I'm just not making special trips to see her unless she's making a real effort to kick the habit, which she now is.
To answer your question, I rarely drink. I never drink at home unless I have friends staying from out of town and I'll have a drink with them. The only other time is if I'm home visiting my parents. I don't go to bars anymore, and I start to get tipsy after 1 beer anyway so that's about my limit! So no, my mom has no problems with any alcohol consumption by me.
Since I was 17 I've known I have kidney problems... one of my kidneys is damaged and doesn't quite function at normal capacity. Because of this I am VERY careful about what I put in my body, I try to eat as healthily as I can and I avoid second-hand smoke. I've never touched drugs in my life. Since we figured out my kidney problems, my parents have stressed the importance of living a healthy life. I just want to stress the same importance back.
My mom's life is full of people who just say "Okay just go smoke then if you want to" but I'm never going to be one of those people. I understand she's probably going to take a few tries before she quits for good, but I want to be the one who can always encourage her to stop, that it's not okay to just keep smoking because it's too hard to quit. If that's how the world worked, there would be no rehab for anyone.
Just my thoughts.