Dynamic Yet Consistent

We all like to help out worthy causes when we can.  Often that just requires a few bucks, or a text message, or volunteering a couple hours.  Don’t get me wrong, all those things matter, but when someone really gets behind something, and is willing to make true sacrafices, that is when amazing things happen.  Two of my Chicago cousins certainly fit into this later category.

A few weeks ago I received an email from cousin Amy about her participation with a St. Baldrick’s Foundation event.  Basically, participants shave their heads to raise money and awareness about cancer.  A few days later I received another email from my cousin Lauren saying she too was going to participate.

I consider myself a pretty bold person, but I have never been brave enough to shave my head… and I am a guy.  Here, my two FEMALE cousins are willing to shave theirs in solidarity and support of cancer research.  This is especially poignant considering our grandfather, who fought various types of cancer, passed away last year.

Beth and I are very proud of Lauren and Amy and wanted to share what they were doing.  We donated to both of them, and we want to encourage you to consider doing the same.  Here are their participant pages:

https://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/participantid/375041

https://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/laurens

Amy after shaving her head.

I have several running trends in my life:

I have never watched Titanic (in fact, of the 10 highest grossing films of all time, I have only seen two of them).  I have not thrown up since middle school.  I have only paid to have my hair cut once in the last 8 years (for my wedding 5 years ago).  And, I have not been completely clean shaven since I grew my first goatee in 2001.  Well after last week, only 3 of those trends still stand.

[Last picture with the scruff] 

It all started when I got the itch to change up my facial hair.  I thought Beth would be pleased with this new "edgier" look.  But as you can tell, she was not impressed:

She was able to convince me that the burnside look went out with with General Ambrose in the 1800s.  So I decided to connect with my days out west when I was fighting fire and sawing down trees:

Again, you can see that Beth was not a fan.

From here I decided to go with just the standard mustache; however, I looked so much like a child molester that I thought it best not to take pictures… those are not the kind of images you want floating around cyber space.

Normally when I decide to change things up, I shave everything except my flavor-saver / soul patch.  Something about having just a little tuft of facial hair to remind me I am a man:

 
[Picture from 2007 with our good friends Cat and Dave…
whom we are super excited about going to visit this week]

But, for some reason, I decided if I was going to shave, I might as well go all out.  So for the first time in nearly a decade, I shaved every inch of my face:

Not only does the "baby face" look make me appear younger and fatter, it also is a pain in the butt.  I have to shave every other day and and I am not a fan of that.  One of the main reasons I grew a beard was because I hate shaving so much.

I doubt this look will last long, but since it is a once in a decade kind of thing, I figured I had better document it.