Hey Cory,
I did not see your thread until today. I have to say that I enjoyed your progress and that you did grow a nice beard. I have to agree with Dano that the imperfections you see in your beard up close are not noticed by anyone. We all have beard imperfections. Now I have to be one here that has to say that I am glad that you shaved your beard off. You are feeling a sense of beard loss and this is a good thing, I think. When I shaved off my first beard, which was a full one that I kept for 6 months, I trimmed down to a stache, since I never just had a stache before and wanted to see what that was like. I really did miss the full beard almost immediately and yearned to have it back so badly, but was in a situation where I could not grow it back for two years. Well it was a long two years for me to wait to grow it back. But beards do grow back and if you find that you really do miss your beard, you will be growing it back quickly. Just keep us informed if you decide to grow it back. For many years I also grew seasonal beards (September to April) and you could do that as well, that way you can appreciate both the bearded look and the smooth look.
Patrick