First, I want to explain the graphics I've chosen because they have extra special meaning to me. My grandmother loved to crochet. Whenever we visited her, she'd be working on one or more projects, usually with a goal of finishing by Christmas. And every year several people in the family would receive her beautiful gifts.

In fact, when I think of Christmas, I always think of grandma because on Christmas Eve, we would go to her house for a family gathering. There was always lots of food and the ladies would gather around her organ to sing Christmas carols. It's a wonderful memory.

I'm trying to learn to crochet, little by little. I think I get the desire for it from her. I wish I'd taken the time to learn from her when she was alive and I secretly think she's watching over me as I try to figure the whole thing out!

Grandma was always a very active lady. When she was diagnosed with Emphysema, she stopped smoking, but of course it was too late to stop the disease.

I was away through the roughest part of the disease so I didn't see her often. But it seemed at one moment she was sitting in her chair chatting and crafting and the next moment, she was lying in a nursing home bed barely able to breathe. She looked terribly frail and seemed to suffer so. Every breath was a struggle.

The really awful thing about this kind of disease is the toll it takes on loved ones. It crushed her family to see her go through all the pain she had to go through. It makes a person feel very helpless to be able to do nothing to help.

I've smoked in my life. I always felt it was my habit and if I wanted to do it, I would. The thing is, when I started having children I thought of what my grandmother's children and grandchildren had to go through watching her slip away. It's so unfair. So, every time I think of having a cigarette, I think of my kids.

I hope if there is anyone out there struggling to quit smoking or using smokeless tobacco, they can find the strength and encouragement from family and friends to try to quit. It is a struggle to quit and it takes a lot of courage and commitment.