BEARDED WONDER

I used to know a guy who had thick black hair and every Thanksgiving he would begin to grow a full beard.

It was glorious and he'd keep it through the winter until he'd shave it off in the spring.

Made sense.

Now I, on the other hand, have been hirsute of face for most of the past half century.

Most of the time it's just a goatee.

I shaved it off once back in the early 90's and was appalled to find my father's face staring back at me in the mirror.

I think the last time I was bare-faced was a couple of years after that when I showed up at a movie set for a day of work as an extra.

The lady who had hired me shrieked "What are you doing with that beard?"

Never mind that I had it a couple of weeks earlier when she approved me.

I had stars in my eyes and said "Go ahead and shave it off if you like," and I was hustled to a makeup wagon for the operation.

But I'm avoiding the point of my story.

I occasionally get the urge to convert my goatee into a full beard.

But curiously I always get that itch at the beginning of summer, when the weather is heating up.

That makes no sense but it explains today's photo.

My wife favors me in a goatee and always says in the first difficult days when the sides are looking scraggly, "You look like a homeless person."

But I'm a Taurus and like that bull I stubbornly persist.

We'll see how long this one lasts.