I’m glad to hear that Atlanta Hartsfield Airport is going smoke free. I’ve also seen that the delivery company UPS has decided to stop hiring anyone who smokes. Back around 1985 I remember SunTrust Bank (nee Trust Company Bank) having all the employees take a vote to make our offices all smoke free. I was still smoking, but did vote in favor of that safe project. We were allowed to step outside on our two daily breaks and use the big ashtray by the front door. I began giving up my nicotine addiction that year and kept giving up one cigarette a day until I was down to just the single smoke on my way home. I did that for a year and then it was time to become a mortgage loan officer and move back to Henry County. I was sad to leave my great coworkers on Old National Highway, but decided I would no longer have the one sin a day on my way home. Norman and I had already quit smoking in the house, for the kids’ sake.

  Moving to the Stockbridge office that September in 1990, I took over a few remaining applications that the departing branch manager had taken. None of those would pass the Federal National Mortgage Association’s (FNMA) strict requirements so, after a day of calling people and letting them know, I was really stressed. I’m sure I’ve told you that I decided I’d stop and buy some more Salem cigarettes on the way home, to help me handle the extreme stress. The problem was that nobody would let me over into the right lane. I made it home and didn’t stop at Zack’s or the Night Owl for any nicotine. Nope, I made it that far … WHEW! The next summer at the Perry Fair, I bummed one off of Norman, took a puff … ugh. Now they say if you’ve been smoke free for ten years, it’s as if you’d never smoked. I am glad to hear that and will never light another one of those dangerous things. I know I’ve probably told you about Norman’s stroke doctor telling me that 97% of his patients had been smokers. I mentioned that to a Publix customer about the 97% and he said that I had just convinced him to completely stop something he’d been wavering about doing. I’ve shown a few ladies who were smoking outside their place of business how the little wrinkles I gained from puffing have never gone away. I hope I helped them make that needed decision to put down the nicotine for good.

  I’m very glad that all of the stores and fast food spots we ever stop at are smoke free. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone light up at Mt. Bethel, but sometimes see a butt on the ground near where I park. Maybe that’s just a bum passing through during the week? I could tell when I went on my test drive in the Camry, that no one had ever had a puff inside that vehicle. It doesn’t have an ash tray, but there is a cigarette lighter.  According to the internet, that all went away in the 1990’s. 

  I do hope America puts that harmful addiction away for good and that those who work in that industry can find another career, and stop making dangerous products. I’m glad that the federal government raised the minimum age to buy cigarettes, as I used to buy them in my early teens with no restrictions. I’m still amazed that we had a ‘smoking room’ at Jackson High School and we were allowed to spend our recess there. Butts and Henry counties were still not able to sell alcohol in my early days.  So, I’ve seen a lot of change, most of it for the better.