November 2005

On Saturday night, Earl and I decided to take a drive into Center City Philadelphia to take a look around. We were in town visiting the family for the weekend and the family activities had come to a lull so we figured it was a good time to get out and about.

I’m not super familiar with Philadelphia. Earl is a native of the area, so I let him do the navigating while I drove the myriad of streets in the “gay area” near Antique Row. I always find that area so charming. I particularly enjoy the narrow streets that are barely wide enough for two bicycles to fit between the sidewalks, let alone a vehicle of any size. Walking amongst the centuries old houses in this area is so peaceful. As soon as you enter one of these streets, the sounds of the city seem to fall right away, and there you are in your own little historical paradise, walking down a sidewalk with no traffic coming by. You can almost feel the history as you pass by the homes, a psychic sense of the clap-clop of horses from days gone by, the smell of wood smoke. There are times when I wishe we lived in such a house in Philadelphia. Something off the beaten path, a home rich with history where the doors aren’t particularly square and the glass in the windows is a little wavy. The stairs creak, the plumbing bangs (though is still quite functional of course). A location where I rely on nothing but my feet or mass transit to move about the area, whether its off to work, picking up groceries or meeting friends at the corner pub.

Of course, we haven’t hit the Lotto yet, so I don’t see that coming to fruition any time soon. But it’s always fun to dream.

I was doing a search on Google for some good looking guys (who doesn’t do that from time to time?) and ran across George Eads from CSI. He’s a little too close to the “pretty boy” look for my taste, but nevertheless he is very attractive. Especially now that he’s grown a mustache.

Apparently fans of the show (especially those of the female persuasion) are fit to be tied because their little piece of cheesecake has fuzz on his face now. What a bunch of babies. The man looks great!

I don’t know why there’s this stigma attached to having a mustache. “He looks like a cop.” “He should be a porn star.” I don’t know if anyone has noticed but men naturally grow hair on their face. It’s the way nature intended it. Adult men are not naturally baby-faced and then one day decide to stick some hair on in an attempt to be stylish. It’s work to scrape it off each morning and a task that many men dread.

I once had a boyfriend who threw a fit whenever I grew my mustache. “It makes you look too old.” Who cares? You’re only as old as you feel and quite honestly, I felt better about myself when I had a mustache. So in that respect I was quite relieved when he dumped me. I grew the mustache and didn’t shave it off for a long, long time. When I did shave it off (just to change my look or whatever), I immediately grew it back. I felt naked without it. Years later when I lost a bunch of weight I thought I’d shave it off and go with the trendy “soul patch” under my lip. I didn’t feel trendy though, so I grew my beard.

I have noticed that there is more opposition to a mustache vs a beard. I don’t know why. Food is more apt to be stuck in a beard than in a mustache, so it’s not like there’s men running around with spaghetti hanging out of their mustache or anything. And it makes for such a soft landing spot when you’re planting a kiss.

I am looking forward to future pictures of George Eads with a big, bushy, fireman’s style mustache. I hope he’s an inspiration to men everywhere.

Next time your spouse, boyfriend, significant other, whatever decides to grow a mustache or beard, don’t close your mind to it, encourage him! It’s the way nature intended it to be and at the very least, you’ll save a mint by not buying Mach III blades.