"Light my fag, would you darrrling....."

Three weeks........

I have been reminiscing of late about how I came to smoke in the first place.

In short. WPTZ T.V. Plattsburgh. Seriously. Let me explain.

When I was young and very impressionable, I used to watch these fabulous "old" movies, circa 1940's and 50's. The women were always immaculately dressed and coiffed, they were all beautiful and oh, so glamorous. To my 10-year old psyche , they were PERFECTION itself. I wanted to be exactly like them, and they all smoked, every last one of them.

It looked so "gentile" in those lovely old movies--nothing as crude as today's portrayal of smokers. These "ladies" all used slender, polished, cigarette holders. Lovely silver tipped holders that would keep the smoke away from their perfectly powdered faces. How I would search the house for a spare pipe cleaner or straw and try my hardest to push out my non-existent chest and preen about "smoking." What a sight I must have been!

It didn't help that I was surrounded by smokers. My father smoked 2-packs a day. To me he WAS the Marlboro man. A real man's man. That cigarette suited him somehow. I was his sidekick my entire childhood and so his cigarettes were as familiar to me as the crook of his neck.
Sounds strange saying that in 2009-but nonetheless it is the truth.

The women in my young life were all smokers too. They were all beautiful, classy ladies. They didn't have bad teeth or bad skin and they were as feminine as can be.
They always smelled sweet, looked beautiful, never "common." (a term my mother loves to use) The cigarette was an accessory, like an extra bracelet, something they used to accentuate their point. They were mesmerizing to me. I loved the smell when first contact was made between the cigarette and the flame of the match. It was sweet. I especially loved that smell in the confinement of a car. I loved that when they spoke, the smoke would slip out of their lips, keeping time with every single syllable. It was so sexy to me. They were so sophisticated. They had ARRIVED, and I was just crawling.......

So you see, to me, smoking is not vulgar.

The women in my life who do still smoke are still beautiful, classy women who smell as sweet as their perfume.

Not a commoner amongst them!