Some of you may remember that I am from Wisconsin. I live right in the path that the tornado took on Monday night. Footage you have seen on TV cannot describe what it is like when you look around. It looks MUCH worse in person. It looks as though a bomb has hit.

I am not posting this for sympathy. I am posting this to show that if you want your quit bad enough and deep down inside enough...you can stay smokefree. This does NOT mean that I am not wanting to smoke. My mind still takes me to the days when I thought cigs. brought me comfort. But NO where are there lines for cigarettes. They are not a basic need. They will not make your life easier.
You are given soap, toothpaste, a toothbrush, shampoo, etc.. but NO cigarettes They are NOT on the list of needs.
There are food lines. You need food to live. No lines for cigarettes, you don't need cigarettes to live.

You have only the things you are able to salvage. When you search through your belongings, you look for photographs, clothing, unbroken dishes etc.. Now if YOU had to suddenly dig through rubble that use to be your home, would cigarettes be something that would make you cry because you were so happy to find them? I don't think so.
The Red Cross and Salvation Army offer everything they can, from your basic needs to someone to talk to about what you are living through. But NO where are they handing out cigarettes for comfort. They will not help.

So any of you out there wanting to smoke and craving so bad you feel you cannot hold on and you think they will help you cope, I have this comment/question... If I were to smoke right now, it would NOT make everything okay again.
It would NOT help me cope. It would NOT comfort me. People do that for me. Cigarettes can't do it. If I were to smoke, what would it do for me? It cannot bring back anything I have lost, It cannot shield my eyes from the destruction around me.
Cigarettes cannot help at all! If you are out there thinking cigarettes can help you cope......you tell me what they can do to help? NOTHING, they cannot change a thing.
After a cigarette is put out, what life has dealt you is still there. Cigarettes can't make it go away. Cigarettes cannot make anything better for you. They do nothing for you.
So amongst the piles of homes and business that have been lost, the people here will rise above. We lean on each other and hold each other up. And this Blairsville resident does it smokefree. YOU can do it too. I am no different than you. The tougher the quit, the sweeter the freedom (right, Rita!) But you CANNOT stick a cigarette in your mouth... You have to learn to deal with life. For me cigarettes can do NOTHING. And they do NOTHING for you!
LYMI, Laurie

Not a SINGLE puff since 10/26/2000.