Michael Bates has some [delightful thoughts](http://www.batesline.com/archives/002040.html) on beardedness and why voters like them – or rather, why they don’t. I myself have come more and more to prefer the bearded version of me, not the least because my wife insists she likes me better with the fuzz on than off. She insisted I not shave for our wedding, which was a great relief. Later generations would have wasted considerable effort wondering who mommy’s first husband was, and why we insisted on putting out pictures of *that* wedding, instead of *ours*.
Of course, I get tired of looking at the same me in the mirror every day, and so I’m contemplating switching from goatee to full beard in anticipation of the harsh New England winter, which would necessitate a few days’ clean-shavenness. At the moment it is only the prospect of being a bald-faced… anything… that prevents me from taking that initial step. I hate to remind myself how accurately I could portray a fourteen-year-old.
neumatikos 
We want pictures of the new and youthful KBF! Why do you have to shave anyway?? Is that a hint that you are ready for your shaver?? I am mailing it…I promise!
AM
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Because I want to? Well, more accurately, the in-between phase transitioning from goatee to full beard looks really silly, so it’e better to till everything under before re-seeding the lawn, so to speak.
However, *still* I haven’t been able to force myself to do it yet…
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I like Eddie better with a beard or a goatee. Like Valerie, when Eddie and I got married I insisted that he keep his beard. His grandmother was having a fit because he would not shave. Poor Eddie, it was his first first test. “Should I please grandma or should I please my soon-to-be wife?” Well, guess who won the battle? The bride!
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