I've quit smoking

I found this picture in my files and loved it so much I
thought I'd share it with you. When did I quit smoking?
I hope my paintings are still "smokin" as Jim Carrey
says in the movie Mask. Before you get all up in arms
about parents who would let their children smoke,
even photograph them in the act -- calm down. When
I was a little girl many people thought smoking was cool.
Luckily my parents didn't, although my father did smoke
when he was in the navy. But...because smoking was
so cool, children could buy chocolate cigarettes in what
looked like cigarette boxes, complete with a tear off
cellophane over the box, and tin foiled paper lining.

Me "smoking" a chocolate cigarette
(That's my brother in the background)
by my father Wallace Muir
black and white photograph
8 x 10 inches

It did feel really cool to "pretend" to smoke. Other
than that -- I had a few puffs in university and early
adult life, when I foolishly thought that a cigarette
would help me stop crying. But I'm not a smoker,
so you could say that if I was eight or nine in this picture
I gave the dirty habit up when I was 13. There were no
chocolate cigarettes anywhere when we moved to Toronto.
Sometimes when I find evidence in childhood photos
of the self I've become it makes me happy. This
shot tells me that I had a sense of humour even as a
little kid, and that my father encouraged that fledgling
propensity.

Have a finding-out-you're-funny day.