The Marlboro Baby

I really hated to see my daughter get out of the car this morning and walk in to school. With only three weeks left in the year the morning commute has a different feel. The light at the end of the tunnel is visible. We laughed at each other and sang with the radio in spite of the fact that it was hardly eight o'clock. A year of hard work almost complete.
After dropping her off I head home for breakfast and a few minutes of quiet time before the day gets rolling. I pulled up to the red light of a busy intersection and could not help but notice the pretty young lady in the shiny SUV sitting next to me. She reached up and turned the rearview mirror toward her and checked her makeup. She ran her fingers through her hair to complete the casual "I could have looked better if I had more time" look. She returns the mirror to it's correct position and takes a big drag off her cigarrette. The window is rolled down a couple of inches and I watch as the smoke curls around her head before it rushes out the window. Boy that looks good! Though it has been thirteen years (next month) since I have smoked, some things you just don't forget.
As I sat there watching she took a few more puffs, then thumped the butt out of the window. She rolled up the window then turned around in her seat and looked directly at me. Feeling as though I was caught, I immediately looked away. As I looked at her from the corner of my eye I noticed that it was not me she was looking at. She had a big animated smile and was talking to a toddler strapped in a car seat. I was so caught up in the morning smoke that I had not noticed the other passenger. Her smoking buddy.
I have to admit that I feel somewhat like a hypocrite writing this because I smoked for years. Honestly it does not bother me that people smoke and I often walk outside with smokers at work just to smell them. But it is no accident that I know the exact date that I smoked my last cigarette. My daughter will be thirteen next month and that is my anniversary. While we owe ourselves only what we decide, we owe our children the best chance for a healthy life possible. You wouldn't light up in church. You wouldn't shake one out while visiting your sick grandmother in the hospital. You would not do either because even if it was allowed, it just wouldn't be "right". Show your little ones and the little ones of other the same courtesy. Don't create a new smoking buddy.