however, during September in short order we had a hurricane roll through Houston, Grace and i went on vacation for our 2nd anniversary to Cancun right after that, and from there piggybacked into a weekend in Chicago to attend my cousin's wedding and see a lot of the family on my dad's side.
and i grew a beard.
basically, Ike rolled through on Sept 12 and I stopped shaving the day before that. with the Houston area in general disarray afterwards, I didn't look out of place for the four days that i returned to work after the hurricane and before our Cancun vacation (people probably thought my house lacked electricity). My facial follicles soaked up the Mexican sun and saltwater and grew strong. with my wife's support i kept the shaving ban in place for our Chicago wedding trip so i could surprise a whole slew of Sobczaks with the new look.
having passed the three-week mark of beard-dom, the continued growth brought me to a crossroads: if i was to continue in this fashion i'd have to make the monetary commitment of buying some clippers and a clipper guard to keep the beard at a neat, uniform length. ultimately i decided i was not yet ready to make such a bold statement of lifestyle.
still it was a lot of fun. i have a memory of an Olan Mills family portrait taken some time in the 1980s when my dad had elected to grow a full, glorious beard (my mom, i learned in Chicago, hated it).
mine never grew to such stature, but all the same, i present a picture of it to you for your consideration as well as, for your amusement, the pictures of its deconstruction yesterday evening.
Behold the beard:
Deconstruction, Phase 1: Ready to Attend a Motorhead Concert
Who took my trucker's hat?
The Ace of Spades!
I'm a nice guy
Deconstruction, Phase 2: Wolverine or 19th Century Politician? You Decide
I hereby sign this potato tariff into law!
Who took my adamantium claws? and costume? and 25 extra pounds of muscle?
and finally, Back to Basics:
Ah...young again
