Aw, Cath... I didn't mean to make you cry, dear!

And I'll say it again, I hope it didn't sound like I was cutting anybody down. Folks were making great remarks and offering sound advice, and I wasn't responding to anything or anyone that I thought was out of line at all.

And I wasn't offering excuses, either. It's just that especially when it comes to fat folks- many have this misperception that being big results from being lazy. Or weak. Or that chubbys lack drive or motivation. And I guess being big- I take it too personally, sometimes. Afterall, I worked 80+ hour weeks for over 20 years- on my feet. I led teams of workers numbering sometimes close to 50 personnel. I've fed groups of hundreds over the course of a couple hours. Nothing lazy or directionless or weak about that.

And I know no one was being attacked- least of all me. I sometimes just feel the need to speak-up. And although I've never smoked, or drank or done drugs or been anorexic, or had issues w/ over-spending or *gambbling (*for some reason the system wouldn't accept the correct spelling of the word! ) I imagine many of those folks feel similarly when they feel they're being generalized about. Or when it seems some folks are oversimplifying the issue.

Addiction is terrible wardon in an impossble jail, I tell ya! (to ammend- it's true that among the many LAZY folks in the world, many are surely FAT- ... but being FAT doesn't automatically mean LAZY. Just wanted to clarify that...)

I guess after seeing smoking put so many family members in the ground I havent got alot of patience for it. I dont have much family left and I would like to hang on to the ones who are still here. When you have your inhalers in your truck and are hacking up a lung while smoking I just dont understand. I honestly do not think I have ever been addicted to anything I couldnt give up when it came down to it but I have never smoked or drank either. When I got the ulcer I gave up 98% of the food I liked and soda pop for almost two years. I still cannot do soda pop, regular coffee or orange juice.
The closest thing you could say Im addicted to is fresh tomatoes. They are bad for my ulcer but I still eat them all summer :o I missed them most of all while I was trying to heal the ulcer up. I didnt even miss chocolate as much as I did tomatoes.

I'm with ya, janie... smoking annoys me too, for sure. Hate being around it. My whole family smoked for years and I recall visitng home from Alaska and having to stay in a house where 3-4 people smoked, and the stench of the stale smoke even permeated my LUGGAGE! Then I got smart- whenever I went home I used old tattered bags and duffels and took my oldest clothes. When I flew back home that crap went right into the dumpster- didn't even want the smell of the smoke to go back into my apartment! Funny- if I had to choose I'd rather smell fresh cig smoke than that old disgusting aged STALE stuff!

I totally understand. My Mom always smoked and I was kinda desensitized to it til I started spending most of my time with Jon. Jon must have been really interested in me cause my clothes and hair must have smelled like an ashtray in the beginning. When we moved in together I had to wash everything I had because they stank so bad from being in Moms house. Now with asthma and allergies I cannot take cig smoke at all!