My Brothers and Dr. Seuss

I was recently reading Benjamin a Dr. Seuss book that we hadn't read yet. There was a picture of Dr. Seuss in the front of the book. He was pictured with salt n pepper hair and facial hair as you might have expected (see photo). I flipped right past the page with his picture. Afterall, how exciting is a picture of Dr. Seuss compared to his books?

As we finished up and closed the book Benjamin said "I want to see your brothers."

hmm. My brothers? I wondered for a second what the heck he could be referring to. Then I recalled the photo of Dr. Seuss. Ha! Dr. Seuss had facial hair! As do my brothers Ron and Kenny. I flipped to the front of the book. "Do you mean him?"

"Yes, your brothers."

"Honey, that's not my brothers. That's Dr. Seuss. He wrote this book. He has a beard too but he's not Uncle Ron or Uncle Kenny!"

Benjamin, "Oh."

I don't think we have any friends here in Virginia that have facial hair. It never really dawned on me until this fall when my brother Ron was due out for a visit and Benjamin declared that he was scary and had a beard. "Yes, he has a beard but it's not scary." Uncle Ron let him tickle his beard and made light of it and Benjamin was okay with it. Not excited about it but okay with it.

Then Uncle Kenny was coming in December to make that drive to Illinois with us for Christmas. "He has a beard. He's scary." Again, we managed to overcome this fear of the dreaded beard. But apparently it has left a lasting impression.