Starting around Thanksgiving of 2011, I stopped shaving a few days. I just got lazy about it. Next thing I knew it had been a week. Then two. And by that point I realized I’d need my clippers to trim down my budding beard before I took a razor to my face. Being that it was the beginning of winter, I decided to just let my beard grow. I’ve never gone longer than three weeks or so, because it has always started getting itchy and I get sick of it.

But this time was different. This time I decided to stick with it. I was going to grow a full beard for the winter. And of course it wasn’t a big deal. It’s just a beard, right? But little did I know the kinds of comments I’d get, which has made it all the more worth it. Here are a few….

High school friend: “Are you bringing your ridiculous beard with you to our 20th reunion in April?”

My 8-year old daughter’s friend: “You look like a young Santa Claus.”

My friend’s reaction when I walked into a bar: “Oh man, that’s hilarious. You look like a Special Forces guy.” He then proceeded to email this pic to all of our former college buddies and told them this is what I look like now:

My wife: (trying to be nice first) “I like how it looks. I really do. (Pause) But I thought it would get softer when it got longer. It’s….uhhh….prickly. I don’t like kissing you when it’s prickly like that.”

My daughter: “I agree with mommy.”

A friend: “You can now fit in perfectly at Widespread Panic concerts.”

A friend: “Hey man, you had a baby face, and now you look old.” (Dude doesn’t have much of a filter)

A friend who saw me at the Father Daughter dance at my daughter’s school: “Hey professor!”

Another friend. Same dance.: “Dude I didn’t recognize you at first. You, look like a professor.”

A pic taken prior to the dance…

Our pharmacist: “You look like Long John Silver”

Our banker: “You look like Dave Grohl”

Every time I see somebody who I haven’t seen in a while, I can almost guarantee I’ll get some sort of funny comment or reaction, so it’s making this a fun process.

So there’s a lite post for a Friday. Enjoy your weekend…

Wil

P.s. I just walked into the gym. A dude stared me down as I walked toward him. Finally he looked me in the eyes and smiled and said, “Ken?!” All I could do was laugh and tell him no.