Face of a Stranger

You know when someone looks the same way or close to it for so long that any change they make, you are looking at the face of a stranger. My father, for 27 years, my lifetime, has always had facial hair. Actually a mountain man beard. And about a year ago he shaved it in to a goatee. Can I tell you, it took me weeks to get use to no beard. But at least there was something there. Tonight was our usual dinner date and a man showed up on my doorstep that I didn’t recognize. My father had shaved off all of his facial hair. Now I realize that this may not seem like a big deal to most but to me, it shook me. With all the family drama that I have endured for the past two years. The separation of my family has taken it toll and now any slight change in looks or pattern bothers me. So much had changed for me that I cling to the tiny things that still or were the same. So when my dad showed up at my house sans beard and I didn’t know what to say. He saw that it shook me a little though I had known about the beardlessness before I had seen him. He didn’t look like my dad anymore, he looked like a stranger. He is still my dad, the only thing different was the lack of a beard but it felt like more. He just didn’t look like the man I grew up with.