Monday, 8/5

It seems like there's only been one change in ten years, but it's a change that I, at least, really notice.

Loraine's been writing a series of Facebook posts about people from Marquette County killed 75 years ago in Normandy. One of them did not deal with one of her “guys”; instead, it was a homage to our friend Jean-Paul, who's helped us find out information on all kinds of things. One of the pictures she posted was from a French newspaper, taken 10 years ago--

You know who I am, you know who Loraine is. Jean-Paul is the guy on the right, while one of those French mayors we seem to have befriended is the other dude. That picture is from September of 2009, and I have to admit that both my dear wife and I seem to have aged well in that past decade. Well, she has; I, however, have may not have been as lucky. Take a look at the picture again--

Now take a look at a fairly recent (from April) picture that I'm in--

Or, if you're in a weird mood (like some of us), this one, taken three days ago--

Notice how dark my hair was in the 2009 picture? Notice how gray it seems to be now?

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's especially noticeable when my hair is longer, like is is at this moment. In fact, I'm getting it cut tonight, which means that I'll probably soon be shedding tears seeing all the white as it falls to the floor. I just guess that while I try to take care of myself and try to slow the aging process as much as possible, there's one part of my body that's not cooperating.

Dang hair.

Kind of as a joke (kind of) I asked you guys a question when I started hosting “High School Bowl” five years ago. That question was “should I color my hair?”, seeing as how even back then I started noticing a little gray on my temples. With one exception, you all said no (that one exception being daily blog reader Darlene from Marquette, who said, and I quote, “I'm too young to have a son on TV with gray hair”). You all said it would look dignified, and add a little character.

Well, apparently now I have a LOT of character.

I don't know why I have this thing about gray hair; I mean, at least I still have most of my hair (unlike say, my little brother (hi, Marc!!)), so I probably shouldn't complain too much. It's just that, well, it's a sign that despite everything I've done and everything I've tried, I am getting older. It's not fair, and I'd really like to lodge a complaint with someone's supervisor about the whole thing, but it (the gray hair) just kind of points out the futility of it all. Sure, I could color it and sure, I'd probably look almost exactly like I did in the picture from a decade ago. But I'd still know what would be lurking underneath.

Gray hair sucks.

(jim@wmqt.com)