Of Illness…
Wow! For the last three months, it seems at least one person in the family has been sick. The time might have been reduced if more than one child had the illness at the same time; but alas, that is not the way the bug seems to work. No, the next child starts to come down with it just as the previous child is getting over it. Now mom has something… Isn’t that always the way?
I should be grateful. If we were all sick at the same time, it would be rather difficult to take care of anyone else. We’ve been fortunate only to have that happen once that I can remember. All of us got sick at the same time except for one child who, for whatever reason, never got it and was sent to stay with the grandparents for a couple days while the rest of us languished.
I’ve mostly been spared, which is a blessing since I have to go to work. But I did have a stint of about four days before Thanksgiving where I was pretty much in bed the whole time. I stopped shaving … what was the point? When I looked in the mirror I sighed and thought to myself, “Well, I’ve come this far. I might as well see what happens.”
… and Facial Hair
So I tried growing some facial hair (my boss called it a “van dyke”). It was itchy and hard to leave alone; but Advent was coming, and I needed to make some sort of sacrifice (which I’m terrible at, by the way). So I decided to keep it, at least until Christmas. There were already a few grey hairs in the beard (I’m hoping also some wisdom to go along with them), but surprisingly, when the light was right, some coppery-red ones too. That was cool.
What wasn’t so cool? I felt like I wanted to touch it all the time, like a nervous habit. And as I often lie on my side or stomach when I sleep, it took some adjusting to get my face used to my pillow. And I kept waiting for that day (that never quite got there) when the beard was as soft as the hair on my head. No, it just seemed coarse and prickly. It also attracted food.
Eventually Christmas arrived. Finally, I could shave off this experiment in facial hair! But it had taken so long to grow, could I really part with it now? After all, I had weeks and weeks invested in this thing. Would I regret shaving it? Would I recognize myself? I waited a few more days. Finally I decided it was time to shave.
Off it came.
The result was almost exactly what I expected. It was no longer a nervous habit; it wasn’t itchy, and my pillow was happy with my face again. About the only surprising thing…I actually didn’t recognize myself. “Hmm,” I thought, “I look pretty weird without this thing.”
Final Thoughts…
Lent will be here before you know it.
About the Featured Image
The featured image is in the public domain.