Some Things Are Still Better The American Way
On April 18th it will be 21 months since I quit smoking.
I used Chantix to quit although I know other people use other methods too. Some even go cold turkey like my father did about 6 months ago after he was diagnosed with mild emphysema. In all honesty I’m much prouder of my dad than I am of myself…I smoked for ten years and had to use medication to quit (or else tear the kids at the daycare into small pieces) while my dad who smoked for over 40 years just threw the smokes away and hasn’t picked them back up.
But all that is besides the point. Where I was going with this was that, as someone who smoked two packs a day, a crucial aid in helping to curb my cigarette cravings was and still is chewing gum.
The problem I have with it though is that most chewing gum loses it’s flavor pretty quickly and that often left me going through a pack of gum a day. Even more when I was working a shift at the race track. I was constantly in search of gum with lasting flavor until one day I found it. The perfect brand of gum.
Yes, Wrigley’s 5 gum is my most favoritist gum in the whole world. So much so that my mother actually sends me care packages of the stuff every few months. She brought some of the citrus and berry flavored kind when my family visited in November and we still have some of that left. I was forced to hide the packs of mint though, as CB tends to chew more than I do and I covet the minty flavors.
Some of you may think I’m silly for only chewing one brand of gum…especially one that has to be air mailed from America, but consider the following two things:
First, I’ve been able to give up quite a bit in moving here to Belgium: my job, my masters degree, my car, my furniture, my computer, Triscuits, JIF peanut butter, Taco Bell, St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, ground turkey, cornbread, decent Mexican food, cilantro, lowfat cottage cheese, automatic transmission vehicles, comfortable shoes, plus sized clothing, hamburgers, non carbonated iced tea…and that’s just off the top of my head.
Is clinging to my favorite chewing gum really that much to ask?
Second, the chewing gum here totally sucks. It’s all mentholated or eucalyptusized and it all has that hard shell on the outside that leaves the nasty little bits scattered through the gum even after you’ve chewed it for an hour. Last night me, CB and Cabanaparents went to Hof Ten Bosse, the venue where we’re having our wedding party for the Belgian side of the family and towards the end of the meeting with the owner I pulled out a pack of gum and offered it around. Cabanamom asked if it was a special sort of gum and I said no but it’s from America. Everyone took a piece and after a while Cabanadad said, “Mmm…chic.”
Why?
Cause the gum is friggin good! It’s the caviar of gums, I tell you!
And a little while later Cabanadad commented that the gum still had it’s flavor and that most gums didn’t after that long.
Yes! Yes, that’s the key!
So now we’ll have to bring back some American gum in bulk…half for us and half for Cabanadad.
Because some things are still better the American way.
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Hmm, I’ve never heard of Wrigley’s 5 – I’ll have to check it out next time I’m in the US. By the way, I haven’t had much trouble finding cilantro in Brussels – I think it’s called coriander in French if that helps at all.
God Bless America.
I love wrigley 5 too.
Stride, which is advertised as having the longest lasting flavour, isn’t bad, but 5 is much better.
I have been desperately looking for it too.
And it does not exist here?
Bleh!
wrigley WROX!!!
and i broke a fricken tooth on the british gum. thank you, candy coated freak show gum!
In all honesty, I really can’t stand the sight of people chewing gum. Jan likes chewing gum too and I hate that. I guess I’ve been brainwashed in high school by a biology teacher who kept telling us that only cows ruminate and that we were fooling our stomac who prepares digestion acids whenever we swallow saliva and who’d become lazy and less effective if we chew a lot without swallowing food.
but then of course if you must choose between smoking or chewing gum…chewing gum is the way to go. I’m glad your mom ships your favorite brand over. Maybe I should try that brand once and become a gum convert anyway
first of all, mazel tov on quitting. My mother is an addiction specialist and wll tell you it’s harder to quit than pretty much everything, no small feat.
Second, I have to disagree and say the only gum that doesn’t lose it’s flavor is Trident.
I have never tried 5…what a dork I am. But since i too don’t like to chew on tasteless rubber after 3 mins of sweet heaven, I am going to have to try this new thing called 5.
I will get youo some when you come home. and happy birthday to me on april 18th, hahaha
I’m so impressed… after 22 years of smoking I quit for a year and half, last year broke me and I started again…with a quit date picked, that has passed, and I’m not ready to give them up again.
And yes, that 5 gum is great. Too bad you don’t see the commercials here, they’re hysterical!!
I’m an Orbitz girl. I chew it when I feel like eating, which means I chew it ALL THE TIME.
Kudos to you and your Dad for quitting the smoking, too!