My first smoke

I smoked My first cigarette in 1959, I was thirteen years old. Of course I'd had cigarettes before but I hadn't really smoked, I had never inhaled. Up until that time I only puffed smoke hoping that I would appear to be inhaling. I remember very clearly, It was wintertime and it was cold. How cold I can't say but it was below freezing for sure. It was clear that night, and a full moon to boot. There was 4 or 5 inches of snow and calm as could be. My Dad was recovering from a bad bout of pneumonia and was at St Marys Hospital which was six blocks from Our house. I took off walking to go visit Him, in my coat pocket was a lucky strike package with two luckys left in it. As soon as I was at the corner and out of sight of My house I shook out a lucky and the trusty Zippo and lit up. Now, I knew that this was it, this was going to be the real thing, no more bullshit, no more puffing and pretending, I was going to inhale and become a real smoker. After that night I would be really cool, not make belief cool. At the corner of Thompson and 10th streets I took a couple of test drags not all the way down. That wasn't too bad, so I readied Myself and took the third drag all the way down. Instantly I felt like I just got off an extra fast carnival ride, I thought for a few seconds I was going to have to sit down in the snow. If I remember correctly My stomach was not in the best of shape either. I was thinking that maybe this smoking wasn't such a good idea if it was going to make Me feel like that. I was just about ready to throw that lucky in the snow when I started feeling better and tried anothner drag, this one was more conservative. The dizziness was there, but not near as bad as before, I thought that I just might be getting the hang of it, and by the time I finished it two blocks later I was inhaling like a champ. On that night another real smoker was born. I went and visited My Dad for an hour or so and on my way out of the building bought a pack of luckys from the vending machine, I looked around and one of the Nuns was right behind Me, I looked Her stright in the eye and said " these are for My Dad." That satisfied Her and She took off down the hall. I could hardly wait to get outside and light up, and light up I did for another thirty or so years until I finally quit in 1995 and so far I haven't been tempted to start again. I would never encourage a person to smoke but, I do have to admit that My walk to the hospital that cold winter night is a fond memory.