I shaved my head sometime in June of 1996, over 24 years ago. I never grew it back. None of my six children have ever really seen me with hair. My oldest was 18 months old when I did it, so they have only seen photos. It was a week into November and I had not shaved since my birthday on October 28 when I was talking to one of my sons and jokingly said, “Maybe I won’t shave at all until December 1.” His response melted my heart or at least warmed it.

Noah said, “It would mean so much to me if you did that, Dad. I’ve never seen you with hair. I’d really like it if you could do that for me. Please.” And so I did. This was for you, Noah. I love you, but please don’t expect this to happen again in the next 24 years. Not even if there is another global pandemic that keeps me from traveling. I’m just not into it. And I don’t have the patience to wait for it to grow longer.

Also, I’ve been correcting people for years when they have proclaimed that I was bald, “No, I shave my head,” I’d say, “There’s a difference.” Of course, there was no recent evidence of that fact. Until now. The photo above (thanks for clicking the shutter for me, Rocky) is the result of 33 days of growth. I may not like it very much, but it’s there.

Tomorrow, I’ll shave the head and leave the beard for a bit just to see how that feels. I’ll be shocked if the full beard stays. There will be no update on the beard. 🙂

Jeff Turner

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