Introducing Alex Porter, Age 32, Fairfax VA:

I started smoking when I was 13. All my buddies did. Later I went into the military. Cigarettes can be your best friend when you are lonely.

Basically, I never pictured myself without them until I went to college. I was trying to meet girls and smoking limits that. So, I quit for six months. But when I took junior year in Europe, all the girls over there smoke. So, I started up again.

What made me want to quit for real? Back in the States I met a girl who is now my wife. As we became serious, I began to think that smoking was selfish of me. I wanted to have a family one day. I wanted to be there for them.

Quitting was tough. I used the patch and lots of the gum to get me though. I tried to stay away from my friends who smoke. And I learned not to try quitting when you have something stressful going on in your life, like final exams.

Sometimes I still get the urge to smoke. And I know it’s only a choice away. But every day I’m off cigarettes makes it easier to stay away.