Rick, This is wonderful news. Congratulations!

I quit more than thirty years ago—after fifteen years as a heavy smoker—not for any noble reasons but because I finally figured out I wasn't going to survive much longer with the chronic bronchitis I'd been trying to live with. Made a big difference in my life and my health.

Oddly, I am now faced with having to learn to smoke again. A local theater company is doing Wendy Wassersteins “An American Daughter” and I have the role of Walter Abrahmson. Walter is a chain smoker and that business can't easily be scrubbed from the play so I'm now carrying a cigarette around and fiddling with it trying to make it feel natural again. I haven't actually smoked one—no real desire to do so—but I'll have to smoke some before opening night just to keep from caughing or becoming dizzy during a performance.

I sure hope this doesn't become a problem.

      - Mark