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Dear Aunty Pam,

 

I don’t have the world’s biggest problem but I do have a problem and I hope you can help!

I recently met a great, great guy. ‘Dustin’ is a couple of years older than me (38), is the co-owner of a successful business, and is a lot of fun to be with. The icing on the cake is that he is gorgeous and doesn’t seem to even be aware of it, so he’s not at all conceited. I guess it’s safe to say that for me, it was love at first sight and while we’ve only gone out a few times, he’s clearly serious and not a player.

The problem: Dustin recently told me that this is the time of year he starts growing a beard because he enjoys going hunting with his buddies and normally has a beard until the following spring. He showed me a photo of himself with a beard and I was just horrified—it was a huge, bushy beard like ZZ Top! Why somebody this handsome would want to cover up his face with something that looks like a boxwood hedge is beyond me and worst of all, he told me that he’s thinking about keeping it all the time because he’s really tired of shaving.

Aunty Pam, I cannot lie: I HATE BEARDS!! I think they look awful and are unhygienic. I’m always seeing men with food caught in their beards and it just grosses me out. The last thing I would ever do is kiss a man with a beard and that includes Dustin.

There must be some way to talk him out of this but I don’t want to be putting demands on this otherwise perfect guy.

Help!!

 

Signed,

‘Grossed Out’

 

Dear Gross,

 

C’mon, woman, what’s the big, hairy deal? (Sorry, I had to)

I’m curious: did Dustin ask for your reaction? It would seem a sort of natural thing to ask— sort of like if you had said to him, “I’m thinking about shaving my head,” or “I’m going to get a tattoo of a French Bulldog on my neck”—it would therefore be normal for you to then say, “What do ya think”– IF you cared what he might think.

Part of Aunty Pam thinks this might be a sort of test Dustin is playing to see your reaction, or, he simply might not care about your reaction, which is a whole ‘nuther kettle of fish. For now, I’d seriously chill out and let the guy be who he is and do what he does. You might even ‘grow’ (sorry) to like it!

 

Cheers, dears!!

Aunty Pam