"smoking" surprises

mood:surprised & intrigued

Today I ran several errands, including a trip to Petco for hamster supplies and some clothes shopping at Gordman's. I happened to find two really adorable pairs of capri pants at Gordman's... but that's another story.

Gordman's was pretty busy, and while I was checking out I had to wait in line for quite awhile. I spent this time "people watching", looking at the people around me. There were many interesting people around me, including a young lady who was wearing far too little clothing, but behind the customer service counter stood a very good looking and well dressed young man.

I paid for my purchases and left, and as I was walking to the car, I happened to notice this gentleman standing outside the store and smoking a cigarrette. I was surprised, because I would never have expected him to be a smoker.

There's lots of other people I see smoking who surprise me. For example, almost every time I fill my car with gasoline at Quiktrip, I see police officers smoking. Now on the one hand, that doesn't suprise me - I know they work a very stressful job. But I did the DARE and GREAT programs when I was in elementary and junior high school. Those were police officer-led programs that taught us to resist drugs, gangs, etc. I remember police officers teaching us, again and again, "Don't smoke, don't drink, don't do drugs, don't smoke, don't drink..." So it still surprises me to see some of those same officers smoking.

Then again, I wonder why such things surprise me. *shhhhh* I'm going to tell you a secret now. Before I was a faithful Christian, I used to be a smoker. I never thought I would be but then I went to college and, well - that's what I became. It was only by the grace of God that I was able to quit. So I suppose for a lot of these other people, they just haven't quit *yet*. I'll be praying for them.