Women and Tobacco

An interesting conversation came up this weekend while at my friend's house. Her grandmother who is going on 90 in the next few months was nagging my friend about her smoking habit. She made some very valid points about how her not smoking has allowed her to live the age of 90 among other habits she chose to never take up. She grew up in an era where smoking was the norm and everyone did it everywhere and anywhere. She stated how girls at school thought it was cool to have a pack of cigarettes in their purse and guys to don a cigarette behind their ear. As she spoke I could very vividly picture those events in my head. Although that was so common back in her days without knowing all the effects cigarettes would cause she chose to live a smoke free life and states how one of her good friend died almost 30 years ago to lung cancer. She chuckles, "if she could see me now, 30 years later and I still feel and look how she last saw me those 30 years ago." I would not go that far, but for a woman her age, she is very independent with no major health problems. The picture I posted above is what I picture in my head of the girls in her times she went to school with smoking. I guess from educating myself more and talking to that charming lady, I feel as though we can maybe one day get through to my friend to kick her nasty habit.