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My Dad and I haven’t always had the best relationship. After a rocky start in childhood, we all finally came around when I was in high school. While my younger sister welcomed his entrance back into our lives, I wasn’t so sure. We had had on and off interaction since my parents had divorced when I was four, and it was hard on everyone. There were a lot of broken promises and missed opportunities. Now that I’m older, I understand a little bit more from his perspective at that time… he had gotten a divorce when he didn’t want one, and couldn’t let go of that hurt. How he handled it wasn’t right, but it still happened. My Mom and Dad were stuck in a weird battle that us kids unfortunately got stuck in.
My sister cried a lot after each broken promise but I clammed up really early on. I didn’t cry, I expected the worst and pitied my sister’s hopeful face each time he was supposed to visit or pick us up to stay with him. It’s a totally unhealthy mindset to have but that’s just how I dealt with it as a young kid. It felt easier to me to just pretend not to care about whether he wanted to spend time with us. When I hit high school I had actually become an emotional mess. After not crying for so many years, I cried all of the time and it still continues on until now. I joke with my husband that I’m making up for all of those years when I was younger and wouldn’t allow myself to cry! 😉 It was like the floodgates were opened and I could barely watch the news without tears flowing.
Thankfully, my Dad finally came around and even though I was frigid and definitely NOT welcoming, he tried his best to mend the relationship. It took a few years but we have all come a long way. The pain doesn’t go away, but everyone makes mistakes. I think my Dad does love us but my parents married young and didn’t quite know what they were doing. Hindsight is 20/20 and when you are young you do stupid things. He wasn’t great at raising a child then but it turns out he is pretty good at being a Dad once we were grown. 🙂
Now that we get together to see each other often, there is one more major obstacle that comes between us: cigarettes. Personally, I hate the smell of them and I can’t stand to be around it for very long. When we would actually stay the night at his place, I remember hating the smell of his house. After a weekend there, I smelled like an ashtray! He does his best to manage it by going outside to smoke when he needs to, but he smokes so often that it takes away a lot of time that we should be spending together. It can really be a drag to pause dinner or a conversation so he could leave to smoke.
I’ve heard about electronic cigarettes since a few years now. I remember when they first hit the market there were tons of kiosks popping up selling them. I didn’t think much of it then but it got me thinking. If my Dad used these then there wouldn’t be that horrible smoke smell and he could spend more time with us instead of going away for a smoke. It seemed like a win-win situation! Since the tip doesn’t actually burn there are no messy ashes either.
My Dad was a little hesitant about the idea because he had tried an electronic cigarette when they first came out and wasn’t a huge fan. He warmed up to the idea though, and gave the Xpress Kit from blu PLUS+ e-Cigs a try. He browsed their offerings on their online store (free shipping, YAY!) and ended up getting a vanilla flavored tank along with the main kit. The Xpress Kit comes with two tanks already in the tobacco flavor, which is $30 of stuff for $14.99!
If you like other flavors with your tobacco like vanilla or cherry, you can buy those online separately and they even have different strengths of tobacco to choose from. Their tanks hold their flavor and use superior technology to make the vapor last longer, have more flavor and hold more juice! They have live chat available on their website, so it’s easy to get advice or how-to if you aren’t familiar with e-cigarettes. My Dad had a little chat with customer service while browsing and it helped him a lot to understand the products better and choose something that fit his preferences the best.
Well, he ended up really liking the look and taste of blu PLUS+! He had actually heard good things about the brand before and was pretty open to trying it after I mentioned it. The puff felt natural to him and he really liked the taste. I’m not a smoker myself, but I have to admit the black body looks really stylish. The tip lights up to mimic a burning tip and you can change tanks just by unscrewing one and putting in another. Since it has a USB charger he can charge it in his car, which is good because he travels a lot for his painting business. The smell goes away almost immediately and doesn’t cling onto anything. That means he doesn’t have to smell like an ashtray either! Hugs are more enjoyable. 😉
And the best part? We can spend more time together. That’s all that really matters. 🙂