“If you have much, give of your wealth; if you have little, give of your heart” – Arab Proverb
Writer Jim Crescitelli gave me a warning as I was beginning to grow my moustache. Apparently Jim had tried to have a moustache at one time in his life, but the moustache kept waking him up at night. I laughed the story off as one of Jim’s quirks.
Then it happened. In the wee hours of the morning, I shot up out of a dead sleep because something was in my mouth. A bug, or a spider! Yes, a spider that would lay eggs in my cheek like that urban myth about the person who ate Taco Bell and wound up having a roach lay eggs in their cheek which later hatched. Oddly the story never stopped me from eating Taco Bell, even though part of my mind believed it. All of this is running through my mind when I realize, the intruder is no spider, no bug, not even a flea jumping off of my dog laying next to me. No.
It was my moustache, grown so that it was overhanging my lip.
This final volume of My Movember Scrapbook is something of a travelogue since in includes pictures from my family’s vacation.
Day 22: Inspired by researching Burning Man, Brendan and I tried to create our own version on our back porch. It kind of worked.
Day 23: On the road, somewhere in Georgia. We stopped a restaurant called Steamers that was less than impressive. It was 
cold with a fine misty rain. Can you see the 2 and the 3?
Day 24: This one’s in Maryland. I only realized later that I had used a gas sign two days in a row. Across the street from this was a restaurant called “Mo’s,” so Dad took a picture of me in front of it. A mo with a mo in front of Mo’s.
Day 25: So now we’re in New York City, packing our days with activity. We fully intended to do a Day 25 picture when we got back to the hotel, but we were drunk from meeting friends at a hip bar called Vintage. The next day I decided I would cheat and run up to the 25th floor and take a picture and just tell you all that it was on Day 25. There was no 25th floor, and I distinctly heard karma whisper in my ear there’s more where that came from. So this picture of me outside the Museum of Modern Art will have to document the day. Excellent Tim Burton exhibit there right now, if you get the chance to go.
Day 26: Here I am in the middle of 7th Avenue in the aftermath of 
the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It has always been a dream of mine to go and it was simply awesome. We ran from NYC back to our “home base” in the Poconos for Thanksgiving, then we had a crazy hat party, so I forgot to get a Day 26 photo.
Day 27: Those are washcloths from our cabin in the Poconos. I look drunk, but I’m just tired. I had dropped Brendan off early early at the airport, then stayed in NYC to see my Rollins classmate Christopher Fitzgerald in Finian’s Rainbow, and catch a quick bite to eat with one-time Watermark writer Greg Triggs at Therapy, a favorite spot of mine.
Day 28: On this day, my dad and I swung through Baltimore to pick up Brendan who 
was there for his grandmother’s 80th birthday. It was my first time meeting that part of the family. They are looking forward to meeting me without the moustache. This picture is taken at South of the Border, that crazy tourist trap on the border of South and North Carolina. I doubt Heather Deal had any idea she would be increasing awareness of men’s health when she defaced a giant dachshund statue.
Day 29: I really like this one. The eggs are now extinct.
Day 30: The final day of 
photos! Brendan catches me in the middle of my beautification elocutions. Okay, we set the whole thing up. Funny, yes?
Traveling with my moustache provided many opportunities to talk about the ‘stach and why I was growing it. That was my main motivation for participating in Movember. The thing I didn’t expect was raising a decent amount of money. My current goal is $1000 and I have until December 9 at 5pm. If you’re able to help, please visit my Mo Space.
