[Let’s start this off with the caveat that for purposes of this article, the word “mustache” must only be pronounced “moo-st’AH-shhhh-e”]
The joy of the mustache (remember “moo-st’ah-shhh-e” ) started long before this Greece trip. Last year Dr. Cap’s sister sent a picture of their dad at a little restaurant on the Mediterranean next to an old fishing boat. Unbeknownst to him, he was wearing his wife’s t-shirt (it was the only dry shirt and the grand kids just tossed it to him on their way up from the beach). When his wife walked up and saw him in the shirt, she burst out in uncontrollable laughter at the sight. By the time she could speak, she told everyone why she was laughing and they all were cry-laughing too. This photo, is that moment… and in that picture, Dr. Cap’s dad (who is usually clean shaven) has a Cretan mustache. Right then, Dr. Cap said, “that’s it, I’m growing a mustache for Greece.” It was done.
That mustache is pure joy. It is freedom by the sea. It’s wearing your wife’s shirt while your entire family is cracking up. It’s the crystal blue warm ocean, dancing to live music in the middle of no where till 4am, it’s the fresh baked bread, whole ice cream, locally grown produce that was just picked and never so much as refrigerated, it’s no internet, TV, or phones, it’s uninterrupted time with your kids, your wife, parents, sisters, cousins, nieces and nephews.
This year, Dr. Cap started growing that mustache two weeks before leaving for Greece, and that mustache grew, so did his joy.
With the biggest smile on his face, he would ask me every day “what do you think about my mustache?” (Don’t forget to really draw it out with a big smile “moo-st’ah-shhh-e”). Despite my instinctual revulsion to that fabulous hairy hunk of joy above his lip, I told him I LOVED IT because it makes him so darn happy. Every few days between shaving, his beard would grow in and kind of look Euro musician cool, but then he would go straight back to the mustache and shave the rest.
I will not squash your joy. Grow that mustache, embrace your joy.
What’s your mustache? Maybe it’s wearing white linen pants that make you feel like your on vacation, keeping a plant on your windowsill that reminds you of your favorite place, painting your nails hot pink, making a fresh mojito for a Saturday afternoon in your backyard … or maybe it’s growing a full on Magnum PI mustache.