David �
I�m so sorry to hear of your friend Kathy�s passing. For a non-smoker, it is so difficult to understand this addiction to smoking. I lost a very dear friend (an RN) a few years ago and I still remember the anguish in her voice as she tried to convey how impossible it was to quit an addiction. She had counseled many drug addicts as well as survivors of pedophile abuse in her practice, and once when I confided to her that the son of a friend of mine was addicted to drugs, she told me that an addict will do anything at all to keep the habit going � anything. She died in her 60�s and the loss of my friend is still felt by all who knew her. In my mother�s family of 6 siblings all but one smoked. The non-smoker lived well into his 90�s. My mother and the rest all died in their 60�s and 70�s. So it does shave a few years off one�s life.

And now, my older son, a smoker � says he is trying to quit �some day�. We�ve reached the point, where I try not to mention it anymore because the last time I did, it did not go very well. But I will give him the www.quitnet.com url for him to consider. Thank you for the link, Donna � you�ve given me a little ray of hope.

David � please wish your beautiful wife the happiest birthday ever!! Fifty is Nifty!! (I know, I�ve been there!) Hope the birthday celebration goes just great in every way!