An Offer I couldn't Refuse
By Jaime V. Pitner, MICP, RHC

I was standing at the front reception desk in the lobby of the health education center where I conduct monthly group stop smoking hypnosis sessions, and as I was looking over the schedule of events, I heard a man say to the receptionist  “is Jaime Pitner here?”.  I looked up as the man was directed to me,  he walked over and said to me “are you Jaime Pitner?” in a somewhat gruff voice and an expressionless face.  Thinking at first that he had some problem or complaint, I replied “ yes, how can I help you”.  In a deep serious voice reminiscent of Marlon Brando in the Godfather, speaking with both hands raised toward me he said  “ I don’no what choo did tah me...but, I aint smoked no cigarettes!”  

He went on to tell me that after attending the session he felt great and had no urges to smoke at all.  He said that soon after he went to Florida as he does every winter, and he thought that maybe the change in the weather made him feel so good.  But, when he can back to Jersey he still felt great with no urge to smoke.  He said that he had wanted to write me a letter to thank me, but then just decided to come over and do it in person.  He went on to tell me how he got started smoking when he was in his teens playing cards with his buddies growing up in Staten Island.  He was now sixty-eight and had smoked cigarettes and cigars for over forty years.  He told me how greatly it affected him, as he now had more energy to play with his grandchildren, how proud his wife was of him, how great he feels, and how this changed everything in his life for the better.  I shook his hand, thanked him, and told him “you made my day!”  After he left, I walked back to my office with a bit of a tear in my eye, I thanked God for this wonderful opportunity to make such a difference in someone’s life.  I wondered at the perfect timing of this man’s decision to just pop-in to see me, and how I happened to be standing right there as if waiting for him.   What a wonderful gift the universe offered me that day...one I couldn’t refuse.