May 23rd: Another Ending

      Always a man for a challenge, that does not necessarily mean I am not excited about the challenge coming to a close.  The journey is always nice, but there has to be an end to all things and this adventure in Goat-hood was no different.  I did as my students challenged me to do, growing it from the first day of school to the last.  I fought through counter-challenges from students and adults alike, one of which included me shaving all the hair on my head and face, eyebrows included.  I was rather glad that one did not work out, as I have enough trouble with my eyebrows as it is--those wayward ne'er-do-wells atop my brow-ridges do not want to obey and, as my boss at my second zoo job once told me, "...your eyebrows only get worse as you get older, and you'll probably have to have someone take care of them."  He had his wife take care of his with regular trimming and, though I would never subject my poor wife to that, I do allow the razor to stray occasionally from the chin and face to take the errant brow-piece.  Hell, my trimmer came with an "Eyebrow Tamer," (their words, not mine) so why not use it?

      In the end, it was 277 days of Goat-growth, 178 of which I spent in the company of children whom were not my own, as I battled through another year in an elementary classroom.  By the end, I had heard all the possible comments on my beard, its variety of colors, lengths, growth patterns, and everything else you could imagine.  Parents were the same in their approach, growing ever more fearless as the year progresses, and they knew me better.  You see, I have something of a scary-guy reputation at my school for whatever reason, with or without the beard, and most parents find that, after we meet for our Fall Conference, that is about as far from the truth as could be.  All the same, they have no fear of commenting about the beard as we near the end of the year.  My favorite comment came at this year's Field Day as one parent stood next to me and said, "Look, I think you're a good teacher so I can put up with all this..." (gesturing to the beard.)  Never mind that none of us would have found ourselves subjected to this year of beard-dom without the day one challenge from the kids.  But it takes a bearded fool to take up such an errand, and I suppose I am just that kind of fool.