Thanks for all the good wishes on our anniversary!
I'll answer that question about Smokey's beard history. He had a beard when I met him and has had one ever since... except once.
It was about 1981 or 1982. He had been in the Naval Reserve for a number of years but was thinking about switching to the Air Force Reserve, I don't remember why. The catch was that he had to be clean-shaven.
He pondered this for days.
Then one night after I had gone to bed he shaved off his beard, came to bed, and woke me up to get my opinion.
I took one look, said, "Grow it back," and rolled over to go back to sleep.
He did.
