I used to be a pack-and-half-a-day smoker. I smoked my first cigarette when I was eleven. There was an older boy I really liked, and he smoked. I thought if I did it, he would like me. Not only was I wrong, but I ended up with an addiction that became serious by my mid-teens. Over the years, I couldn’t even kick the habit completely while I was pregnant. I was ashamed, but the urge to smoke was stronger than I was. As my children grew up, they would come home, horrified by the teasing or shunning they received from classmates who could smell my second-hand smoke on their clothes, and crying because they had heard that cigarettes could give you cancer and kill you. It was heart-breaking; yet, still I smoked. I was embarrassed when people would give me a wide berth because of the smell, but I could not kick the habit. I tried counseling, I tried several different public agencies that aid people in a quit, and I even tried Wellbutrin. None of those methods helped. In 2010, an ad for Blu e-cigs popped up on my computer. I decided to read more about electronic cigarettes, and a web search led me to a vendor that had a chat site. I was able to talk to other people about using the devices, and ordered one as soon as I possibly could. My husband, a heavy smoker than I, tried his electronic cigarette and quit tobacco cigarettes the same night he received it. It took me a bit longer, but I eventually quit as well. Twenty-three years after I started smoking, I was able to put down cigarettes. They no longer control me. My children no longer smell like smoke and are no longer exposed to it. My food tastes better, I can breathe much easier, and my blood pressure is normal again. I know that my health is better because of electronic cigarettes. With electronic cigarettes, I have no urge to smoke a real cigarette. I feel that if they were not available, or if they were only available in tobacco flavors, I would be very likely to go back to smoking. I truly feel that electronic cigarettes have played the main role in saving my life where cigarettes are concerned.