No Smoking!

When I was young, smoking wasn't considered bad; it was considered "grown up." All the grown ups smoked; at least that's how it seemed. And they smoked any where and everywhere. That was in New York.

Some places had smoking and no smoking sections. Not that it helped much, since the air, smoke-filled, filled the no smoking sections.

Eventually the no smoking laws and places became more common, even here in Israel.

The smoking began to bother me, in principle more than anything else, and I considered it a "challenge" to keep the air around me "smoke free."

During the days when we went to the movies, I used to insist that people stop smoking near me. It was easiest when I was pregnant; I'd just tell them that the smoke made me puke. I admit that I lied, since I didn't have that problem when pregnant, but it really was a great line. Everyone's afraid of pregnant puking ladies.

Other times on buses, once it became illegal to smoke on a bus I would enforce it. Once I was only taking the bus around four stops, so I was really anxious to finish my mission quickly. And I succeeded. I got the guy to stop and put out the cigarette, just before I got off the bus.

When I was recently in the Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel, to meet a Nefesh B'Nefesh flight, I was overjoyed to see a new development, a "smoking box." OK they call it a "Smoking Zone." So of course I took that picture.