Hey Guys,

Thank you all, once again, for your thoughtful comments and kind words.  Even though I know I'm not alone in having to deal with stuff like this - this board is replete with similar stories, unfortunately - it helps to hear it from so many of you anyway.  The whole episode is well behind me now.  I spoke to my mom on the phone yesterday and we talked about Thanksgiving and what my extended family was up to.  You know, the usual chat on Thanksgiving Day.  No comment was made about my beard at all by either of us and the whole conversation proceeded as though the call two weeks ago never occurred.  I wonder if, perhaps, she isn't feeling a little bad about the whole episode too.

As I said, yesterday was American Thanksgiving and this year's celebration was one of the best in recent memory.  My daughter and her wife came to town and, in an utterly delightful and, frankly, heart-warming turn of events a new chemist in my wife's work group called to ask if he could come to our house for dinner.  It was his first Thanksgiving away from his family and that he wanted to spend it with us was quite touching.  We ate too much (as you can see below), drank too much, and played games well into the night.  It was a wonderful day and reminded me that I have so much to be thankful for.  Life is good, so very, very good.

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As you can see I'm wearing three braids again, something that I've been doing quite regularly lately even, *gasp*, in public, perhaps as a sub-conscious rebellion against my mom's comment.  I even wore them to my orchid judging training in Seattle and the training coordinator, a very staid woman I've known for years that I deeply respect and admire, came up to me and said, "I give it full points for form, color, and presentation, but you need to work on the symmetry a bit."  smiley: laugh   It turns out that there's an unexpected benefit to them too, and that's that it keeps my beard nicely contained while working and eating and the three-braid approach affords my jaw much more freedom of motion than a single braid does.  I've yet to decide whether the benefit is worth the extra work in assembling the braids, though.

Thank you all again, my friends, and happy belated Thanksgiving to all my bearded American friends on the board.  

Cheers!
Tom



Some helpful links:
Library Central of Beard Growing


Taming the Wild Mustache
Tips for eating and drinking with a big mustache

Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. ~ W. Somerset Maugham
A jerk with a beard is just a bearded jerk, but a bearded gentleman is awesomeness personified. ~ Triibeard
Last Edited By: Tom E Nov 27 15 4:19 PM. Edited 1 times.