County stop-smoking class

On January 5th the McHenry County Department of Health (DOH) started a seven-week, stop-smoking class in partnership with Centegra Health System. Is any reader in it, or do you know someone who is in it?

The class was scheduled to meet from 6:00-7:30PM on Wednesdays and included a free three-day pass to HealthBridge in Crystal Lake.

The price was right - $25.00, and even that was to be refundable, if the person attends all seven classes.

Did you miss the class but still have questions about how to stop smoking? Call the Illinois Tobacco Quitline at 866-QUIT-YES.

I was reminded by the McHenry County DOH flier of a stop-smoking workshop in Denver that I helped a small training firm present. It was a three-week class (one day/week) after work at a large company. At the third session a woman approached me and asked if I had ever smoked. When I told her that I had, she asked me some questions.

"How much did you smoke?" Well, not that much.

"When did you quit?" It was a while back.

"Was it hard to quit?" Not that hard.

She grabbed my coat lapels and asked, "Listen, buster, how old were you, when you quit?"

I replied, "Seven. My mom said I was never going to live to see 8, if I didn't quit."

To which she responded, "I knew you had never smoked!"