So We Celebrate!

It's all about him.

Actually it's all about all of us, because, as they say, no man is an island.

Twenty years ago he decided to quit smoking. For us. He realized to continue would adversely affect his health and likely shorten the time we would have with him. It would affect me, his children, and future grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and we had no choice in the matter.

So he quit. He set a day, and did it. Then he did it again the next day. He woke up that next morning as an ex-smoker. So he didn't smoke. And it was really, really hard.

After he'd gone an entire year without a single cigarette we went to Cancun, our first tropical vacation. Just the two of us. While we were gone the dog ate the sofa, and we found out calling home to check on the kids was $3 a minute, so the bill was over $500 when it arrived in our mailbox. We had kids in college and didn't really have an extra $500. And it was still worth it.

We celebrated every year, for eighteen more years, with a special tool or whatever he chose. If we celebrated a birthday or anniversary or holiday, surely we should celebrate this milestone too.

August 24, 2018 will be twenty years to the day since he quit. And he's never picked up a single one since. This year I thought we should do something we never thought we'd do. As you read this, we're on a cruise ship sailing around the Hawaiian islands. We may be driving on the Road to Hana. Or at a luau, watching caramel skinned women dance in grass skirts. Or riding on a catamaran looking at the beautiful fish swimming near the coral reefs. Or checking out what is going on with that volcano. Or sipping pretty drinks with little paper umbrellas. Or touring beautiful botanical gardens or what they refer to as their Grand Canyon of Hawaii. Or watching a show on the cruise ship after a five course meal, before we turn into bed for the night.

It is an expensive trip, compared to most we take. I thought about adding up what it would have cost for him to smoke all those years, but I didn't, because that isn't the point. What it cost our budget was never the point. What it would cost our family was.

These days he works out three times a week, and shames younger men who are foolish enough to climb on the elliptical next to him. He is rarely sick, and when he is, he gets over it very quickly. That was not the case back when he smoked. He can hike, mow the grass and do yard work, play with our grandkids, spend time with our kids, and with me.

I am so beyond thankful he did the hard thing, and he re-chose it every single morning for about 7,300 days. and will continue to do so. For me. For us.

I'll be back with photos in a week or so. Right now I'm off celebrating one of the best gifts ever given to me. More time with my very favorite person in the whole wide world.