It's GaGa's Fault!

Sometime back when all the kids were really little, Wil's grandmother, GaGa, my MIL, became a criminal. She started practicing what's known as "CDM", or "Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor". At family gatherings she would buy a bunch of cigars and dole them out to the kids and grandkids and everyone would happily puff away.

Here the kids are at 13 and 15 years old. Note the cigar in Carli's right hand.

Wil's 18th birthday was on Tuesday, the 30th, but we had his cake on the Sunday, the 28th. Since he wasn't 18 yet he wanted me to buy him cigars but I refused. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not all high and mighty and anti-smoking. In fact I used to be a smoker myself. And every once in a GREAT while (like when we had our last big family gathering) I'll bum one or two off other smokers.

But I'm glad I don't smoke on a regular basis any more. Besides being unhealthy (which I really didn't care too much about), they stink (I could tell the dental assistant who worked with the dentist Thursday was a smoker), and they are expensive (believe it or not that was my main reason for quitting!).

So the point is, I don't want to encourage my kids to smoke, for fear they might take it up as a regular (nasty) habit.

When Wil turned 18 he had it set in his head that he wanted to smoke a cigar. So he went to the smoke shop and picked out a couple of mild cigars, one for himself and one for his dad. I like the smell of most cigars until the next morning. Then I have to frantically air the house and dump the garbage. But they did have a father/son bonding moment, if you want to call it that.

After dinner the cigars came out and the ritual started...

Cutting the ends off...

lighting up...
and a few puffs...

About a month ago Wil got a thing in the mail from the registrar's office encouraging him to register to vote, as he would soon be 18. He carefully filled it out and sent it in. He is now a registered Republican.

My little baby boy is growing up! (Scary!!!!)