I Don't Smoke

I don't smoke.
I don't drink, either. But that is a different (a real different) story.

Today marks 65 months (5 years and 3 months) since I have touched a cigarette. This is my second "major" quit. The first one lasted 15 years. It ended one night in Las Vegas when I was on a much needed vacation with my spouse.

I had gone to work for a civil firm and was doing the occasional criminal matter that the firm's clients found themselves facing. No partner in that firm had a clue about criminal law. So I was the designated hitter.

But on this day it seems that the District Attorney had called and made the usual demands and threats of legal action on some silly and normal issue on a case involving a partner's client. Instead of asking me, at a reasonable hour, what the hell was going on, I got a screaming, name calling, profanity laced phone call, in the middle of the night (2am is unreasonable even in Vegas!) in my hotel room.

I went downstairs, bought a pack of cigarettes and smoked and gambled for the rest of the morning.

I didn't drink, though. And for me that was a real win.

Five years later, I was in my own criminal defense practice and I decided to quit again. It took me that long to screw up my courage to go through that hell again.

So when anyone asks me why I don't do civil work I tell them I don't smoke.