Originally Posted by tealbingy

My highly intelligent mother was respected and appreciated for her organization and incisive thinking at the firm for which she worked until she was 74 (they begged her to not retire several times). But she smoked about half a pack daily, except for one year or so when I made a bet with her to stop - 35 years ago. She just died, in her early 80's, totally wasted from COPD and congestive heart failure. The death certificate made no bones about it - she died because she smoked for 60+ years. Stop now, please!