SMOKING in Garden Grove parks may soon be illegal (Shutterstock).

Both my parents smoked. My father smoked cigars and pipes; my mother went through Kent cigarettes like President Trump goes through new tariffs.

I grew up in a fog of dirty air. I spent a lot of time gasping for breathable oxygen. My lungs were so challenged that  I remember lying in my bed in an oxygen tent, the old folks oblivious to the root cause.
Maybe it was LA smog, right?

Smoking in public parks (and adjacent lots) will likely be banned in Garden Grove shortly, and this will likely be greeted with deep breaths and considerable signs of relief.

At the other end of this issue are smokers who will see this as the latest attack on personal liberties.

I suspect that the grumbling puffers never experienced the ill effects of ingesting airborne nicotine or otherwise they might have had a little more sympathy for those of us who had.

My mother developed serious heart problems that cut short her life. My father came up with congestive heart failure.

Of course, considering his catalog of bad health habits, it’s hard to pinpoint just what did him in.

The irony is that he was hooked on “health foods” like wheat germ and lentils, and bitterly denounced having to drive the freeways breathing in the noxious fumes pouring out of exhaust pipes.

Some people just can’t see that freight train until it’s right on top of them, or someone else. Even if it’s a cloud of choking grey death drifting across the playground or pickleball court.