Day 43: Late by Design

I made a conscious decision to delay this week’s picture and post one day.  Today, 26 September 2011 is 28 years since I arrived at MCRD-San Diego to start my journey towards becoming a Marine.  For many Marines, this is almost considered a birthday, though the true birthday is the first day you’re called Marine – for me, that’s 16 December.

Me today

28 years ago yesterday with Gramma B.  I've changed a bit

The past few days, I have done what I typically do during this time of the year – I reflect back upon the journey that has been.  September has always been a time of change for me – typically one of rebirth.  School always has started around this time of year, I joined and was released from active duty in September, and I was married in this month as well.  If Crystal were still alive, this past week would have been 15 years together. 

It’s all good.

This past week, I have spent a lot of time being introspective.  I have looked at this past year, and the past years, and realized that though I am comfortable being alone, I would love to share my adventure with someone.  The trouble is finding someone to share that adventure with.  It doesn’t help that I’m a bit shy – truly shy – and I really don’t like going out to bars and such. 

I’ve also been busy in the kitchen this past week.  My apple tree has been over-productive the last few years (look below for what’s still left after at least 25 bushels has been picked off of it).  I’ve been making apple sauce, froze a few pre-made pie fillings, and tonight, I’ve started a batch of apple sauce that’ll be made into apple butter.

That's a lot of apples

And, I’m also in the process of turning a leg of lamb into fenalår, a Norwegian style cold cut.  It’s a long process, but should be ready for Christmas.  I’m excited and hope it turns out well.  It’s also going to force me to figure out how to cold smoke – and that’s something I REALLY look forward to learning. 

My friend Wade also sent me something – Wade believe that everyone needs a little bit of Tom Selleck in their soul.  Ah, Wade, you do make me laugh.

The Bjorn Selleck

The Wade Selleck

September 18 -- Day 35 -- Yeah, it's late ... but ...

It's been a busy few days.  I headed down to Minneapolis last Friday (Sept 16th), then up to Mora for the weekend with the family.  I spent Saturday helping Lori around the garden center -- I fixed her north fence, though I really do think it's going to need complete replacement in the not too far off future.  It was fun, though (even if I did hit my thumb a few time -- next time, I'm bringing my own hammer!).  Sunday found me on my way back to the G to the F, and when I got home, some new friends were over to pick apples.

And do I EVER have apples!  My tree has been producing like mad for the past four summers, and right now, I just need a longer ladder to get up higher.  I've been making apple sauce and trading a bunch off for another type of apple -- tomatoes.  Right now, I'm filling my smaller freezer with tomato and apple sauce -- and for the past few nights, that's part of what I've been working on.

The other thing that's been keeping me busy has been school.  Tonight I roughed out my third test of the semester.  I gave my Intro students their first test Monday and Tuesday, and I was impressed!  I had some of my highest scores for a first test, and the highest class average in a long time.  Friday I give a test to my Developmental students, and Monday next, Abnormal is on the block.  It should be a good time.

So, I've been busy.  This weekend, I'm relaxing.  I think.  Unless I can find a longer ladder.

This week's picture was taken at Petal Pushers Garden Center in Mora, MN, by my sister Lori.  I like the look -- especially the new Filson hat!  (And yes, it was taken Sunday!)

The silver is really starting to show!

September 11 -- Day 28 -- A day to remember

Ten years ago today, our world changed when a group of extremists decided their way of life was better than everyone else's.  Through their actions, the world became filled with anger, fear, and a desire to protect ourselves before all others.  I get that.  I understand that.  But, I don't like it.

We live our life in an ever-increasing police state.  Our government is filled with corruption.  The rich are getting richer while everyone else is slowly dying on the vine.  If we look back over the past 50 years, we can see that this isn't something new.  Over even over the past 100 years.

10 years ago tonight, I was sitting at home with Crystal, talking quietly over what had happened.  What it meant.  What could happen.  And were there going to be more attacks?  Less than a year later, her death helped her to escape a lot the turmoil.

 This week, I included a picture that Crys took of me about ten years ago.  It's one of my favorites, and one that when she developed it, caused her to laugh so hard I was a bit worried.  The original hangs in hall downstairs.

 And it still makes me laugh.

 In the past 10 years -- laughter is the gift that works best when recycled.

 

 

Whacha lookin' at? -- 1999

You still here?  2011

 

September 4 -- Day 21 -- The Joy of the Beard

This past week, many of my friends sent me funny stuff.  I thought that I'd share them with you.

My good friend Randi sent me this:

Mr. Connery is one of my favorite actors -- I've always enjoyed watching him, but to me, he was a much better badass with facial hair and no toupee then he ever was as 007.  Even when he had the toupee -- such as when he played Captain Ramius in The Hunt for Red October, he was much more effective with the facial hair then if he were the James Bond clean-shaven look.

Another camp friend, Emma, was concerned that I'm missing my beard and sent this to me:

This is from the Snorgtees Beardheads .  Another of my friends, Ingebjorg, sent the links to me earlier this summer.  If my beard wasn't on its way back, I'd think of getting one of these highly fashionable pieces of apparel.

I look good in yellow.

But, the best came from my friend Len.  Len and I were in almost the same circle in college -- and I know we were at quite a few of the same parties.  He's married to a friend of mine from camp, the undeniable Miss Thea, and he found this by doing a search for bearded motherf*#$er:

This is a special forces warrior from the early days of the Afghanistan campaign.  One hard-charging, get-some young man. 

If I ever decide to become a mercenary, and I lose about another 50 pounds, I'll look like this again.

At Day 21, though, I'm starting to see the beard again well.  It's starting to fill in, and I could keep it this length, but I'm definitely going to let it go a bit longer.

I am, if I say so myself, looking good.

August 28 -- Day 14 -- It's starting to show

Two weeks since I last shaved and this morning, I could tell that I have a beard coming in.  Yeah, I kinda like the look.

But, this past week has been fun.  With the first week of classes, lots of my previous students did major double takes.  One student who was taking another class from me almost didn't come into class because he didn't recognize me.

It's funny how many people think that I've lost a bet or something.  Yeah, I made a major change, but a lot of people just can't believe it's because I simply decided to do it.  It's hair.  It'll grow back.  And it already is.

Anyway, today was also my last day at camp for 2011.  Got everything packed up, the boat out of the water, and made my way home.  It's kinda bitter-sweet.  I really wish this summer hadn't come to an end -- I had a lot of fun and had LOTS of good lifeguards working around the program.  I'm really looking forward to next summer now.

Next week -- I head down to Mora.  It'll be interesting to hear what the rest of the family says.

 Gorm and I -- looking stoic with our beards.  I think it's the first time EVER he has more beard than me

 Stoic Jazz Hands

 Still working on the stoic jazz hands

Olava just couldn't get the stoic jazz hands thing...she kept laughing

August 21 -- Day 7 in the Return of the Beard saga, or, I'm not afraid of my age

It was a busy week -- I moved home from camp, had a few days of breathing time, and then back to school for in-services.  I had three days of a beard when I walked into the building -- basically just a hint of a beard.  A lot of people didn't recognize me, and there were a lot of second looks.  And a lot of questions.

Why did you do it?

Did you lose a bet?

Are you going to stay this way?

But, the comment that I heard often that made me realize that the beard needed to come back was you look so much younger!

Why would I want to look younger?  What is it with our society that makes people ashamed to look their age?  I'm 46, dammit, and I'm proud of each and every gray hair that I have in my beard.   So, yeah, I'm growing my beard back.

I headed back to camp on Friday since there is a bunch of stuff still happening there.  On Sunday, I helped set up for the Norwegian family week with Gorm, Magna, Odin, and Olava.  Olava is Magna's daughter, and she's a cute kid.  It was fun watching her the first time she saw me -- her eyes got extremely large, and I think she would rather have me with a beard as well.

It's been an interesting experiment, and at the end of week 1, it's still not long enough to measure.

 Olava and me (and me sporting my Gus Mcoy t-shirt

 Closer of me

Keeping my neck and high on my cheeks shaved for now

Aug 14, 2011 -- Day 0

I have shaved for the last time this morning.  Well, I've shaved clean.  After today, I will start growing my beard and mustache back.

It's also the day I leave camp.  I'll be back the next two weekends, but for the most part, my summer at CLV is complete.  I've been here since the Sunday before Memorial Day, and I head back to school this week, so, it's time.

Thanks to my friend Espen for helping with my pictures today.

 Hmmmmmmm....  Day 0 .... what shall I grow today?

 I'm trying not to look tired.

Always a couple of characters, me and Espen S.

My life behind the beard

I grew my first beard while I was still in high school.  I grew it because I was playing Malachi Stack, a drunkard and con man, in the school's fall play, The Matchmaker (the non-musical version of Hello, Dolly!).  I figured I should look a bit scruffy, and the year before when I played Teddy Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace, I realized how much of a pain spirit gum can be.  So, much to the chagrin of my mother, I started my beard -- and kept it through the entire school year and following summer.  I didn't shave it until mid-September '83, a week before I left for boot camp. 

The Marines won't let you have a beard, but after boot camp, I could have a mustache.  While I was home on leave, I started mine and by mid-January of '84, I had a bit of facial hair again. 

Marine mustaches are minimalistic affairs -- you have to maintain a perimeter between your nose and the top of the 'stache, your lip and the bottom of it, and it can't extend over the corners of your lips.  I did my best to keep it in regs with only one gig ever (didn't have enough distance between the lip and the 'stache). 

In July of '86, I shaved the 'stache off, and it wouldn't come off again for 25 more years.  As I said in my previous post, I was getting ready for a promotion board, and while I was trimming it, I slipped and too out a big divot.  After looking at it for a moment, I realized there was no hope in saving it, and it came off.  If I would have gotten the promotion, it might have been worth it.

After I got out of the Corps, I had a few months before I left for school.  During this time, I took a job with Holiday Station Stores, and at the time, they had a 'no-beard' policy.  So, while I worked there, I kept just the 'stache, but I let it go a bit wild.  With no more inspections to worry about, I let it go a bit nuts.  As soon as I quit, though, I started the beard again -- that occurred in late December of '87. 

I moved up to Grand Forks in January of '88 to attend the University of North Dakota, and started looking for a part time job to support me.  It was a rough time in the economy, and it wasn't until I was on interview number 57 that I heard "you're hired."  I became a dishwasher for Perkins, a great family restaurant.  I didn't care where I was working -- I just wanted a job.  The one problem?  Yeah, I had to shave the beard.  So, on the last Sunday of my first Spring Break, I shaved it off.  I did it right before I went to bed -- and the next morning, having forgotten what I had done the night before, I say myself in the mirror and screamed!

I still laugh about that.

I worked for Perkins until late May, at which point I got a different job -- I worked as a door-to-door salesman.  I didn't do so well -- ended up quitting after about a month, though I had a different job by then -- working for Valley Dairy -- a convenience store company in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks.  I worked there for about three years during the school year -- and the best part -- I didn't have to shave!

Somewhere about this time, I decided that if I had a job that required me to shave, well, I just didn't need that job.  So, from May of '88 until 7 Aug 2011, I always had a beard.

When I lived in Norway, I had my first "Big Beard," where I went six months without doing more than minor trims to it.  For about four years, I had just a goatee -- I was also shaving my head at the time because my wife thought it looked sexy.  The things we do for love.  Heh.  But, after Crystal died, I decided I'd never shave my head again, and kept my beard fairly trimmed.

It wasn't until I went back to Norway in November of 2004 that I remembered why I had the big beard.  It was just a lot of fun!  I spent a few days with one of my teachers and friends, Oyvind, and we looked through the photo albums from that year.  It took a bit longer, but, by May of 2005, the big beard was on it's way back.

I'm much better suited to having a beard, I think.  That's why it's comin' back.

25 Years -- it was a good run

The last time I was completely clean shaven was sometime in July of 1986.  We were in Naples, Italy, and I was going up for a meritorious Corporal board, and while trimming the 'stache, I slipped.  And decided to shave it off.

That was the last time -- and since then, I've had at least a 'stache, and since May of '88, I've head a beard or goatee as well.

A few weeks back, I was driving back from a visit to one of the villages, and I thought -- "I wonder what I look like without a beard..."  By the time I got back to camp, I decided to shave off the beard and get rid of the pony tail.  On August 7th, 2011, I got rid of it all.  And a few hours later, I decided that I'd give it one week before growing it back.

And I will be. 

I also decided that I would keep a diary of the process of regrowing the beard -- so, tomorrow, Aug 14th, will be the last day I shave completely.  Once a week, I'll post a picture of the progress of the regrowth, along with reflections of growing a beard.

*****

It's been interesting, though, listening to the reactions from my friends.  Many of my friends at camp didn't recognize me -- others could.  I even had one of my lifeguards introduce himself to me.  Other guards didn't recognize me at all until I started talking.  My parents asked my sister, Robin, "why did he do it????"  She had not idea -- no one really did.  But, that's what makes it fun.  Doing the random, silly things.

Besides, it's hair.  It grows back.

 August 4, 2011 -- And I think this is the picture I want at my funeral -- it really captures who I am.

August 10, 2011 -- yeah, it's really me...