This is a good time of the year to walk it off.

That's an old phrase that has been used in myriad contexts; but for me, it means shedding lard, blubber, winter weight, excess baggage and many additional euphemisms for fat.

My weight loss and gain saga goes back for many years. Putting on the pounds is far different than putting on the Ritz, and I began the roller coaster way back in 1975.

Actually, it was Feb. 8 of that year when I was finally ready to give up my three-and-a-half-pack-a-day cigarette habit. With great trepidation and no small amount of self-doubt, I left for work at the radio station that morning with no cigarettes in my pocket.

Everything I did at the time seemed to rely on breathing in that smoke.

Sometimes, I would have three cigarettes burning in three ashtrays in three different rooms.

Kaye was the same way. She claims that she didn't really smoke that many cigarettes each day, and she could be right. She was always a frenetic worker here at the house or at the local bowling alley where she managed the bar and restaurant. Most of her cigarettes no doubt just burned out in the ashtrays while she was running around doing what she did so well.

MARVELOUS MARRIAGE

Then there were our many children, some of whom would pilfer cigarettes from our packs and cartons, hiding them in various nooks and crannies.

In any case, I came home that February night, kissed Kaye and said, "Guess what? I haven't had a cigarette today."

She smiled and replied, "Guess what? Neither have I."

That was the last drag we ever took on a cigarette. Our long and marvelous marriage has been one of orchestrated harmony on every level. We finish each other's sentences and often pick identical letter tiles out of the Scrabble bag to start our nightly games.

Thank goodness we don't try to keep secrets from each other. It would neither be fun nor even possible.

But we didn't do everything together. From the day I stopped smoking, I began to gain weight, slowly but surely. She did not.

Look at her. In spite of birthing 12 babies with no caesarian sections, she has maintained her tiny and trim figure for all these years.