Beards

There were just two words on a Facebook posting. "It's gone". I knew almost instantly what was gone. The summer beard grown by a long time friend of mine had found its way into the trash. Pity. I saw a picture of him and his beard and remarked to myself, "Gee, he looks quite good!" Remarks were made by others regarding the salt and pepper appearance... something quite natural for people of our age. My beard was salt and pepper when I let mine grow out eight summers ago.

My friend and I had been either cursed or blessed since High School with a surplus of facial hair. I managed to cultivate and keep a moustache through most of my Senior year, alternately growing or disposing of it in the mmmmmfttty mffffffff years since. The moustache has been gone permanently since I grew my summer beard back in 2002.

The family took a trip that summer and I decided that I would just quit shaving and see what would happen. I had deliberately attempted to grow a beard at other points in my life, only to have the attempt aborted because of the itch which developed on or about the third day or so. This time, the third day came about while we were camped at a parched campground in a South Dakota State Park, at least a two day drive from where I had left my razor in Texas.

We were on our way back to the Lone Star State when it finally dawned on she to whom I was once married what I was doing. When we got back home, I did some strategic shaving to alleviate the itch which was most bothersome around my neck. For the next two years or so, I kept the beard, trimming it from time to time to keep the people at work happy with my appearance. Yes, it was salt and pepper, just like the hair on the top of my head is to this day (more pepper than salt, by the way). I finally decided that the beard and I needed to part company due to some skin problems.

Beards seem to run in the family. One brother-in-law has had his beard ever since I've known him. I honestly would not recognize him if he were to walk up to me with a naked face. One of the new brothers-in-law sports sort of a Van Dyke which can count as a beard... it's just not a full beard. The older step-son sports a Van Dyke, too. I guess that counts. My younger brother has a beard which he's had for 15-20 years much to the chagrin of our mother. She's gotten used to it. Finally, there's Stuart, my son the High School student, who managed to cultivate a summer beard while he was at Boy Scout camp up in the wilds of Canada. His beard is gone, now, a victim of the first day of school. I had hopes that he would follow in my footsteps, but it seems that facial hair is a big no-no as far as the Allen school district is concerned.

Many of the men I know seem to wear a beard well. There are exceptions. One person of my acquintance has taken his beard to extremes, not trimming the thing for months at a time. I attribute it to the fact that he really can't seem to keep quiet long enough to apply clippers and/or a razor long enough to keep from doing himself bodily harm.

In the end, though, while many who can wear beards and look darn good in them, there are those who, for one reason or another, shave them just after proving that they look darn good in a beard. I was a tad disappointed to see my friend's post "It's gone" this morning. Not that my vote would account for anything... from the picture I saw, it looked darn good. Mine didn't look half shabby, either. Maybe I should reconsider...


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