the beard

for those of you who haven't seen me (or don't know me), i've got a beard going on right now. it's coming along Ok.

but, for those of you who i encounter on a regular basis, you'll notice a subtle change monday afternoon. the beard will be gone. it's back to a clean face again.

i started this process of growing the beard out and my hair (though my hair has been growing for more than six months now) in an effort to simply change my appearance. i felt it had gone too long looking the same. plus, afte being in the program now for several years, i felt, as i'd been told, that a change is good every once in awhile. so why not go for a longer hair and beard look. as i was told by one of the agents once, "you gotta mess up that purty little face of yours every once in awhile." (he was a southern boy). and so i did. for several weeks, anyway.

at first it looked as if my razor and i had gotten intoa fight and it refused to have anything to do with me. then it started filling out my face. i figure in another week, i'd be bona fide backwoods grizzly adams. or at least his teenage brother.

but i've encountered several issues that came up during this time. first my mom called and said she'd like a family portrait, especially now that my dad is sick and now that my sister will be giving birth. i thought it was a good idea, too. however, i was just getting into the beard and didn't know how she'd react to it, looking like a scruffy bastard in the picture. but, i figured they'd have to get over it some way or another.

but then dawn expressed dislike for the beard. she's never liked facial hair on me and cringes when i go more than a few days with stubble on my hair, saying it hurts her face when we kiss. so i knew going into this that she'd hate it.


i went ahead with it and she'd been patient with it. but i noticed that yes she'd stopped kissing me pretty much. we talked and she expresed that she supports anything i do but couldn't get into the beard. so she was torn between supporting me with growing it out and being reluctant to kiss me because it pricked at her face like needles, as she said.

so faced with that decision, i decided to shave it off. the alternative would be never kissing dawn. and i wouldnt' want that. plus, i could never really do something she had reservations about me doing.

i love my wife, so id' do it. plus, if she did something like stopped shaving her legs, i'd definitely express my own distaste.

so now it's back to the drawing board with my change. i am unsure what direction to take with my appearance. should i have off my head completely and get a chris daughtry look? should i pierce my nose, lip and eyebrow? should i somehow scar my face, since a scar is something that would definitely set me apart and make a diffeence in my appearance? should i wear an eye patch?

so far i've been quite successful at evading any characters from my past. i think i'll just sleep on this one for now.