Is This Me?

Every time I pass a mirror and look in it, this is what I see.

I shaved the beard last Saturday, and most of the hair on my head is gone. I still have all the other body hair, including most of my eyebrows. I think I've lost my eyelashes.

I look more like my father, even more like my late uncle Viktor. I never knew Viktor, but I've always felt there was a strong resemblance between him and my father - but Viktor had a narrower, less rounded face.

What I don't look like is me. I haven't been without a beard since 1993 -- when I played the role of Charlie Brown in our congregation's little theatre production of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." I had hair on my head then, but no beard.

Now, no beard, no hair. It'll grow back, I'm told. But having been bald for so many years, loss of hair is the least of my worries.