Simply stated, I quit for my daughter and my cousin. When I was pregnant with my daughter, the doctor had me cut way down. So, I promised myself I would quit the day she was born. It didn't happen. I went out for a cigarette the day after she was born and felt completely disappointed in myself but I didn't give up.

So I made another promise to myself to quit once I got her home. Again, it didn't happen. The stress of having a new baby and being on my own was too much to add quitting smoking to it all. Instead, I cut down and smoked outside away from my baby. I continued to smoke and the final promise I made to myself was that the moment my daughter grew old enough to notice I was a smoker, that would be the day I quit....and I did.

I have a young cousin who will be 9 years old. Neither of his parents smoke. We're very close and he was really upset that I smoked. It really had him worried because even at the age of 5, he was intelligent enough to know how bad it was for my health. My daughter at the time was only 3, so she hadn't really noticed yet. I smoked outside and made sure she never saw what I was doing.

Every time I saw my little cousin, he begged me to quit smoking because he didn't want me to get sick. It finally clued in that he was very worried about me smoking, so I made him a promise. I would quit New Year's Day. Well of course, New Year's Day 2006 rolled around and I hadn't quit. I had cut down, I had quit for a few days but picked it back up again over the holidays. I was feeling I was letting him down.

What finally got to me however was the day my daughter came to me. She was outside with me and I was having a cigarette. She was playing and I was hiding it from her, or so I thought. She was three years old at the time and it was my mother's birthday, January 6, 2006. I'll never forget that day. She looked up at me, saw me with the cigarette and said, "mommy when I grow up I want to smoke yuckies just like you". Yuckies are how I used to refer to them because I didn't want her ever thinking it was a good thing. It was that sincere statement from my very impressionable and intelligent three year old that I put out the cigarette, went inside and threw out the rest of the pack I had. It was time. I had always promised my daughter I would never smoke around her because I didn't want her to become a smoker and now she had taken notice.

I can't say it was easy, but this was the third time and as they always say, the third time's a charm - and it was. I had tried nicorette; it didn't work. I tried using a nicotine inhaler and it didn't work. What finally worked for me was the love I had for my daughter and the promises I had made to both her and my little cousin. Besides, it was my mom's birthday and she hated the fact I smoked so it was part of my gift to her as well. I won't lie, it wasn't easy. What helped was I trained myself to hate cigarettes and everything associated with them. I gave up coffee and altered my habits after eating and while working on the computer. I drank a lot of water which really seemed to help and took a lot of walks. I knew if I could just get through the first month, I'd be on my way to being smoke-free for life. Besides, I had done it before. I was smoke-free for 10 years before starting up again so I knew I could do it and this time would be the last.

I took it one day at a time instead of making long term goals. I stuck with short term ones that made it even easier. I never told anyone either, that way I didn't have to hear, "oh yeah, we've heard that one before". It's now almost 4 years later and I'm proud to say I am a non-smoker and have not touched a cigarette since Jan. 6, 2006! My cousin was ecstatic to find out I had kept my promise to him, and my daughter never again asked me about cigarettes.