Still at the beach

I am going to jump ahead and provide the reader with some information that I did not aquire until I got home from the beach.  Remember the cottage did not have internet.  One of the first things I did was go to Google and type in "how long does nicotine stay in the body".  You would be amazed at the caliber of material that search gets you.  Two things stuck out at me.  One if you were not a smoker and had a smoke--two days.  My situation; long term smoker--one month.  Damn.  Well that explains something.

Okay back to the story.  The more time I spent thinking about this concept the more I came to realize that the medical community was phrasing it wrong.

Let's go back to the hospital room.  The gray haired man wearing a white coat comes into the room and says (I am going to say like I mean it) "Son, I want you to cut your fuckin' arm off."

I am speechless.  I am thinking that I don't like this idea.  I like my arm.  I do a lot of things with my arm.  It scratch itches, I make friends  with it, it calms me down etc.  Why would I do this?  Is he crazy? Does he really think I would even consider life without my freaking arm?

Now I start to think about it.  In my head I go visit a community where the only people that live there are in their 90's.  No one has their arm.  No one.

Next I go to a community where people are in their 80's.  No one here has their arm either.  Okay now I visit a place for folks in their 70's.  I see a couple of people that still have their arm but not many.

The realization comes upon me.  Each and everybody has to part with their arm at some point.  If you want to see really big birthdays that is.  You know my father was the first male with my name to see his 60th birthday.  He died at the age of 62.  Still smoking.  I have a cousin who saw his 60th birthday and he is still alive.  He does not smoke.  I have a couple of older brothers in their 50's they do not smoke.

If I cut my arm off how often will I miss it?  Everyday.  How often will I go to use it and realize it is not there.  Pretty often.  Will I ever stop mourning it?  After a long period of time you get used to it.

I spend the rest of the week trying to get on with life as a non smoker.  I have decided to change as many things as I can.  My hat, exercising, whatever I can.  I have noticed that I no longer wheeze.  It is really nice to breath again.  Well it is time to go home where I will have to adjust to life in a big way.