Beards

For quite some time, Dad has been very concerned about beards. I'm not sure why, but I'm guessing that my husband's full beard plays a role. Dad never in his life had much of a beard. Even in his 40s it was thin and blond. I never saw him with a 5 o'clock shadow. Dad's caregiver shaves him every morning. However, he has an electric shaver next to his chair in the family room that he runs over his face 3 or 5 times a day. I wonder if he just likes the sound and the vibration. He asks regularly if we can see a beard.

Dad's maternal grandfather was a small man, just over 5 feet tall, with a beard to the middle of his chest. Everyone called him "Little Papa" because he was small. His wife was several inches taller and out-weighed him by 40 pounds. She was called "Big Mama." They lived on a farm in East Texas. Big Mama died before Little Papa. He couldn't keep up the farm by himself, so the farm was sold and Little Papa lived the rest of his life rotating among his 12 children. This much of the story I'm pretty sure of. The story Dad added last night was probably pure fiction:

"Little Papa came to live with us in Dallas. It is illegal to have a beard in Dallas. They made it against the law to have a beard because it can be used as a disguise." "When Little Papa came to live with us in Dallas, they made him shave off his beard." "Little Papa didn't like having to shave his beard because he had one all of his life." "Little Papa had to shave his beard becasue they were outlawed in Dallas." "Little Papa died shortly after they made him shave his beard. I guess he died of shame because they made him shave his beard."

After Dad got tired of talking about Little Papa dying of shame because they made him shave his beard, he created another story about Dallas laws and beards.

"They made me grow a beard in Dallas. They took my picture with a beard. Then I shaved it off." "They took everyone's picture with and without a beard do they couldn't use the beard as a disguise." "They made me grow a beard so they could take my picture." "As soon as they took my picture, I shaved my beard and haven't had one since." "Everyone had their picture taken with a beard."

Kind of hard on the women. How did they grow beards?