TheBanyanTree: Smoke No More

[Margaret R. Kramer]

Minnesota passed a state wide smoking ban yesterday.  Our governor is
expected to sign it.  As it stands right now, different cities and counties
have banned smoking.  So it’s confusing if you’re bar hopping or going
somewhere new for dining out, smoker or not, to know if there’s going to be
smoke in your eyes.

I’m an ex-smoker, almost seven years into my “recovery,” so I can see both
sides.  As I a smoker, I would be worried about where to smoke and as a
non-smoker, I’m glad I don’t smoke, and it doesn’t matter to me whether a
place allows smoking or not.

I’m still fighting the battle with our bank.  We finally got our debit
cards, 10 days after we changed our account, but our passwords don’t work.
Now we have to wait until TUESDAY to see if we can use them.  We both picked
the same passwords as we had before and I guess that’s a “no-no.”  Why didn’
t they tell us?  We still haven’t received our checks, although I’ve been
assured we should have them by TODAY.  Yeah, right.  Again, we have money,
but are moneyless, we have no access to it, unless we physically go to the
bank.

I started tanning on Thursday.  I put on some shorts the other day and
almost fainted looking at my white, pasty, cellulite-laden legs.  Of course,
tanning won’t help my cellulite, but covering it up in brown makes it less
obvious or so I think.  The tanning place still had my tanning lotion that I
left there last fall.  Now, that’s a bit of customer service, because I wasn
’t looking forward to buying more lotion.  I should have a nice brown shade
on my skin by Memorial Day.

This week was as bland as a week could be.  No hospitalizations, no
illnesses, no tight deadlines at work, just sun and gentle breezes for each
day.  Spring is definitely here and is sliding into summer, a smoke-free
summer for Minnesota, the way it looks.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com

Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever
to have your heart go walking around outside your body.
~Elizabeth Stone