It was another nondescript night on the road in my small town. Nothing special, just another summer night doing DoorDash.
In case you were wondering, DoorDash is my side hustle right now. It can be stressful, but the flexibility allows me to work when I can instead of when I'm told. The older I get, the more I value that freedom.
I put in too many hours every week, essentially working two full-time jobs. It's definitely not ideal, but as the primary breadwinner in my family, it's something I have to do. I'm sure plenty of people can relate.
But back to the story.
I got another order to pick up at Pizza Hut and deliver less than two miles down the road. The order itself isn't important. What happened while I was waiting for it is.
Another man waiting for his order looked at me and asked a simple question. At the time, I didn't think much of it.
"How do you get your beard so straight?"
My first thought was that I hadn't brushed my beard in a few hours. Since I have a habit of playing with it while I'm driving, I assumed it was probably looking pretty ragged.
Straight? Are we talking about the same beard?
I smiled and told him he probably wasn't going to believe me, but I blow-dry it every time I get out of the shower. I explained the type of brush I use and how I brush it while blow-drying.
Now, this isn't a story about beard care. Maybe I'll write about my routine another time, but not here, not now.
He told me he'd tried growing his beard before, but it always looked so bad that he eventually shaved it off.
I understood exactly what he meant. I told him that if he saw mine right after a shower, he'd probably laugh. It can be a ridiculous sight.
He smiled and said he'd have to try what I suggested.
Then I picked up my order, and we went our separate ways.
I didn't think much about the conversation when it happened. But when you're driving by yourself for hours at a time, you have plenty of time to think.
Your mind can go in one of two directions.
It can wander all over the place until you're having a full conversation with yourself and probably looking like a crazy person to the drivers around you.
Or sometimes, you start thinking a little deeper.
That night, my mind kept going back to that conversation at Pizza Hut.
Why was I thinking so much about a seemingly irrelevant conversation with a man I'd never met?
Eventually, I realized it wasn't really about how I straighten my beard.
It made me think about why I have a beard in the first place.
I'm just a regular, hardworking father and husband. I go to work. I take care of my family. I do what needs to be done.
There isn't much recognition that comes with that, and that's okay. Recognition isn't what's important. My family is.
But I realized something.
My beard gets noticed.
People compliment it. People ask me questions about it. And when they do, it feels good.
Not simply because someone noticed me, but because my beard is something I actually put effort into. I take care of it every day. I've spent the last year growing it, learning what works, and figuring out how to make it look the way I want it to look.
I'm proud of it.
And that random conversation in Pizza Hut made me ask myself a question I had never really thought about before:
What does my beard mean to me?
For me, I think it represents hard work, dedication, and pride.
Those are qualities I try to bring into my life as a father and husband every day. My beard is just one small, visible way of expressing them.
That man probably forgot about our conversation five minutes after leaving Pizza Hut.
For me, it stuck.
A stranger asking me how I got my beard so straight gave me a little validation for something I've spent the last year taking care of. More importantly, it made me stop and think about why something as simple as a beard matters to me in the first place.
I know what mine means to me now.
What does your beard mean to you?
