[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ell, it’s November, and this is the month dedicated to men’s health. “Movember”, as some folks call it, is the time of year where we men are constantly reminded to go the doctor for a check-up and specifically have our prostate checked. It’s really a good idea, although I haven’t gone yet. I am still looking for a doctor with extremely skinny fingers.
“Movember” is also the month where men are encouraged to grow a beard. I wasn’t aware we needed any encouragement to stop shaving, but for 37 years, I have been strongly advised to shave after just two days of growing whiskers. After my surgery a while back, I got to go weeks without shaving since I wasn’t able to leave the house. According to folks who came to visit me during my lengthy recovery, my patchy beard and opioid-induced crazy eyes made me look like a middle-aged meth addict. But I kept the quasi-beard until my precious granddaughter told me she didn’t like the whiskers. I shaved that afternoon.
Last November, after some urging from co-workers, I stopped shaving. Without the wild eyes from pain pills and some trimming, I looked civilized with a beard but appeared much, much older than my actual age. The longer the whiskers grew, the more I looked like an eighty-year-old college professor. So I shaved the beard off before Thanksgiving.
