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The Nicotine Diaries: Part 1
So what was the attraction in the first place?
That’s what I’m curious about, so I decided to start this little series within my blog called “The Nicotine Diaries.” This is just a chance for me to muse about why I started smoking in the first place. And the best way for this to work is for people to interact and share their stories, as well.
So like I was saying, why did I start in the first place? Well, the first time I lit a cigarette I was 13 and it was in an effort, or in hopes, of impressing a girl who smoked.
I was in summer school during junior high school. It was held at the high school and there was a smoking area outside. During our breaks I watched as she - I can’t even remember her name all these years later - would stand out there and smoke with her friends. I remember staring through the glass, wanting to be out there with her. She would stare back and smile and wave.
My mother smoked back then so I stole several cigarettes from her and one afternoon, when I was alone, I hid in the garage trying to smoke. With matches in hand, I lit one after another, never quite making it, never really knowing how to puff on a cigarette. All I could do was think that if I could do this, I could spend those 10 minutes with her.
My mother’s boyfriend pulled up into the drive and I quickly stashed everything before I was caught. I gave up on it then, but would return to it later, standing in the parking lot of my high school, bumming a cigarette from my friend, Steve Thomas.
“You’ll regret it,” I recall him saying to me. And, yeah, I suppose all these years later I regret having picked up that cigarette.
I don’t recall why, at that moment, I did it. It just seemed like a good idea. My friends smoked, family members smoked and all I could do at that moment was, well, not think and suddenly I was on my way to smoking full time.
It seems trite, really, but I think it all came down to peer pressure.
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