Her dark brown two legged console table with an 8×11 photo of a giraffe in the center holds two small green potted plants on each end. Burning inside of each plant, is an incense spiraling smoke into the air while spreading out a sweet fragrance across the living room.

Holding a glass of cranberry juice at her four seated round oakwood table, Michelle Johnson, 34, a single mother of two, has carried something very significant since her mother, Barrett Carson died of lung cancer in August, 2016.

Born and raised in Palestine, Texas, Carson worked in hotel management working odd hours to make ends meet, says Johnson.

“Her husband, Charles Howard Carson, my stepfather, worked as a car salesman for different dealerships,” Johnson says.

Her mother was a heavy smoker, says Johnson. “She would go through a pack a day.” And sometimes more.

“My mother made many attempts to stop smoking,” Johnson says. “Burning smoke from the incense was a step back to quitting for her.”

The incense smoke was second hand for Johnson’s mother. She also used incenses to unwind and relax.

Each time her husband and her had a fight, she smoked and burned an incense to help relieve the worry, and refocus her thoughts, Johnson says.

Carson battled bronchitis for a while. “Even after prescribed medications, she didn’t get much better,” says Johnson.

Her dark brown two legged console table with an 8×11 photo of a giraffe in the center holds two small green potted plants on each end. Burning inside of each plant, is an incense spiraling smoke into the air while spreading out a sweet fragrance across the living room.

Holding a glass of cranberry juice at her four seated round oakwood table, Michelle Johnson, 34, a single mother of two, has carried something very significant since her mother, Barrett Carson died of lung cancer in August, 2016.

Born and raised in Palestine, Texas, Carson worked in hotel management working odd hours to make ends meet, says Johnson.

“Her husband, Charles Howard Carson, my stepfather, worked as a car salesman for different dealerships,” Johnson says.

Her mother was a heavy smoker, says Johnson. “She would go through a pack a day.” And sometimes more.

“My mother made many attempts to stop smoking,” Johnson says. “Burning smoke from the incense was a step back to quitting for her.”

The incense smoke was second hand for Johnson’s mother. She also used incenses to unwind and relax.

Each time her husband and her had a fight, she smoked and burned an incense to help relieve the worry, and refocus her thoughts, Johnson says.

Carson battled bronchitis for a while. “Even after prescribed medications, she didn’t get much better,” says Johnson.