I'm thinking of growing a beard

No, I am heterosexual, married over ten years in fact, so I don't mean metaphorically.  Really, it's been something I have often thought about (or, more accurately, rationalized after I had failed to shave for 3-4 days) and now, this being the 4th day of a vacation, I find myself pondering the question again.

Vacation brings out those kind of seemingly meaningless decisions to the fore.  It's right up there with: "Where are we going for dinner tonight?"; "Should we worry whether the kids get to bed on time?" and "How much alcohol should we drink afterwards?"  You know how it is.

Part of me is just lamenting the fact that this vacation landed smack dab on top of YearlyKos, and so the quality of my decisions as represented above do not come near what I might otherwise have on my plate (like: "Should I attend this organization's party?" or "Can I make it in time for the energy panel?" or "Is Meteor Blades as cool in person as in print?")  But while the rest of you lucky devils get to weigh such matter, I'm sitting at my friends' house worried about my stubble matter.

My wife claims that a beard looks good on me, but that supportive behavior usually wears off after a week.  Other women we are friends with can't stand anything but a clean shaven face, and I think some of this sentiment rubs off on her.  The initial feeling (literally and figuratively) is likely a throwback to our youth, whereas the cold, hard (and let's be honest, rough) reality is that it is not the greatest feeling to mix in with a nightly cleansing routine.<>

But it also provides procrastination fodder against other weighty decisions, like whether to start that book my friend wants me to write, or whether to take that new case on principal despite the fact that I know from experience that I'll never break even, or how I'm going to deal with my kids giving up the pacifier and the bottle in a few months time without insanity reigning supreme throughout the household?

And that's the beauty of vacation.  All of those considerations fall to the wayside, if only for a few days, so that we can reflect on the more mundane, basic considerations.  While some go back to nature at these times so as to more fully appreciate how good they've got it when they return to civilization, I confess I am too selfish for this.  I was a Boy Scout; I can light a fire with one match (or without one at all for that matter), and catch something to cook it on if it comes to that.  I'd rather visit my friends, now far-flung around the country, in the comfy confines of their air conditioned homes and enjoy their hospitality.

Because I know that the decisions that face me on my return will have to be unmundane.  They will be have to reasoned.  They will have to be sober.  They will have to make sense.

So now what am I thinking?  I will probably go get a shave.