Updated January 20, 2015.

From Luisa:

It finally arrived! It is like Christmas morning... You wait for it, and wait for it, and open your presents and then... You can finally relax; it is over, it has happened… You are there, and very content.

I started smoking at the tender age of 16. Everyone in my family smoked; both my parents and my three older sisters, so I guess I was doomed, particularly back in the '70's, when smoking was seen as a sign of "maturity".

I didn’t give it much thought, even though at age 13 I tried to get my sister off cigarettes by buying her a pack of nicotine gum (totally new to the market and advertised on TV). She used them for a couple of days and told me to forget it. She still smokes, some two packs a day, even after having breast cancer back in 2001 (sigh).

I met John, who would become my husband, in January. I was there learning English and he was there doing a work term from University. We got married December 1981, after being apart, one in each country, for almost two years, and I moved to be with him. He is a never smoker and hated my smoking, but I kept on telling him that he knew I was a smoker when we got married, so it was his problem.

I gave a first try to quitting a few years later, in 1985, through SmokEnders. I had paid so much money I couldn’t afford that I kept the quit for supposedly around eight months. I say “supposedly” because, if I really tell the truth to myself, it lasted more like five months.

To that attempt many others followed. I had three children in 1987. Yes, you read correctly. Three the same year, the girl was born in January and the twin boys in December. I did not quit smoking during pregnancies. I only slowed down. Both boys have asthma. I don’t know if it is because of the smoking or because they were premature. The babyhood years and early childhood are still a blur to me, so I didn’t even gave a second thought to quitting.

In 1996 we moved to Spain. Many failed attempts followed. I tried the gum, the patch and several cold turkey tries. None of them worked for any more than a couple of months at the most. It really started getting me upset. DH hated every smoke I took. He coughed every time I lit up. I was getting terribly upset about my smoking. My mouth felt like an ashtray. I coughed every night in bed. I couldn’t take a deep breath without choking. I would wheeze half of the time. Every time I got a cold, it would last me forever.

I live in Spain, where smoking is the rule. Everybody smokes! Everywhere. That made it even harder, with the added problem that every time I quit, I would gain a lot of weight that would take me a long time to get off. Until I got tired of it. Until I said to myself "enough is enough".

I quit March 1st, 2005, at 11:00 pm. I waited until right before bedtime and smoked a whole lot. I had come across the Why Quit site, but they were too strict for me. Plus, due to computer problems, they never accepted me (Thank God for that one! LOL). I found this forum and lurked for a while. I didn’t want to post until I was sure this one was the one.

I first posted on March 14th, 2005. It took me a while to get used to the pace of the forum, to answering everyone, to congratulating everyone. But after a few days, I simply couldn’t survive without it. I was glued to the computer at least 8-10 hours a day, truly. I read every post. I got to know most people. When I had to be for a couple of days without computer access, I would get really nervous. My worst week was week five (I was never one for the "icky threes"), when I got a very calm, very mild depression that lasted about a week. Then around month 4 things started rolling!

July 9th I was inducted to the WOS, and that certainly made me proud of being here. In June I had come up with the idea for the dots, of which I am really proud (can’t you tell? LOL).

I started running on July 26, and haven’t stopped yet! Life got better and better in the nonsmoking sense. I have become more sensitive, I really think I am a better person, not in the sense of congratulating myself, don’t take it the wrong way. I mean that I really believe I have become more aware of people, more understanding, more preoccupied with other people’s problems. My life has changed for the better, I think.

Life has also changed because of circumstances beyond my control. All my babies are gone to University since September, leaving us all alone... I lost my job in October, and I have been acting as housewife for the past few months. I am hoping to get back in the workforce soon again. Life goes on.

Downside to quitting? Only a minor one, which is the weight gain. I have gained so much weight that is not funny, but I am starting to lose it now. It doesn’t bother me so much anymore. It is better than smoking and it will eventually go...almost 9 lbs are already gone.

I owe a lot to the people in the forum. I wouldn’t be here without you. You really mean the world to me, and I am saying that from the bottom of my heart. The picture I chose for my one-year key came to me only about two weeks ago. I wanted to show you what is important to me, what makes life worth living.

I didn’t look for a fancy key… well, actually I did, but then one of those cartoon light bulbs lit up inside my brain and I told myself: "what is the most important key in your life?" answer: my house key. So I took a picture of it surrounded by the most important people in my life: my DH and my kids. Notice the keychain is a STAR, lol, and THAT wasn’t done on purpose! (By the way the picture of my dh and me was taken way back when, in Ireland, in 1980) I am really glad to be here and really happy I made it.