Gray hair - LBC post

This week's LBC topic comes to us from Ramana. Gray hair. That stuff most men happily shout "better gray than gone!".

My hair started turning gray at about 18. It started with my sideburns - just touches of gray. Cool! I could order drinks in bars and restaurants from then on. And so I happily ordered Zombies and Singapore Slings along with beer. Coors was my favorite - after all, I did grow up in Pueblo Colorado. Well - allegedly grew up any way. My international beer quest began shortly thereafter - what the heck - it's always beer:30 somewhere!

The hair is a genetic gift from my mother's family - the Higgins' of New Mexico. We've all been blessed with manes of white hair. That'd be the Cadillac of gray hair IMHO. In fact when I reconnected with my great-aunt Blanch about 20 years ago, she looked at me and started laughing and proclaimed "You have to be Butch - laughing loudly. You're fat, have psoriasis and white hair. Your knees will go bad too. You're definitely a Higgins." The last time she'd seen me I was a normal 9-year old kid.

The genes make it tough to say I've earned every one of my white hairs but I'll say it anyway. And if gray hair is a sign of wisdom then I am a bloody genius. Ahem. OK -not so much. But until I trimmed my beard down to next to nothing just about every little kid looked at me in awe from Thanksgiving until Christmas. I've often wondered if that is why I never fell into that Happy Holidays political correctness trap here. It has always been and always will be Merry Christmas to me regardless of my religious views (or lack there of).

What eles is there to say about gray/silver/white hair? Well - Helen Mirren sure does rock it - as do James Brolin an Mark Harmon but I think I'll see what the other LBC bloggers think.

See ya next week - same bat time, same bat channel for another LBC post. And who knows what may show up between now and then.