An Audience

I had a funny (and enjoyable) experience yesterday afternoon, and thought it was worth sharing.

SWMBO is 38 weeks pregnant and was taking a nap. Being the weekend, I hadn't shaved since Friday, and was starting to get a bit prickly. I didn't want to wake her by rustling around in our bathroom, so, I grabbed the cool barber's box that I found on Scaramanga, a good Sheffield wedge and assorted shaving paraphenalia and went outside.

Here in Seattle we've had an unseasonably pleasant late spring and early summer, and yesterday afternoon was no exception. With sunny skies in the mid 70s, I made my way onto our back deck. As I got finished making lather and going through some pre-shave beard prep, I noticed some movement behind me, reflected in the barber's box mirror. Without turning around, I surveyed the mirror and saw my boys (ages 6 and 3) watching me from just outside the railing of our deck. No big deal, I thought, as they've seen me shave before and would likely get bored soon enough.

Within a few minutes, though, my boys were joined by the two boys from next door. By the time I finished my second pass, we'd gathered two more boys from down the street. By the time I was completing my last pass, we'd gathered three more, including one I'd never seen on our street.

All told, by the time I finished shaving, I had nine boys, ages 3 to 8 standing outside the railing, watching me shave. Before I put everything away, I turned around and asked the boys what was going on. For the next 15 minutes I answered questions from all the neighbor boys about what it was I had been doing. In the course of the exchange, it became clear that they'd never before seen anyone shave with a straight (although one of the older ones had apparently recently seen Sweeney Todd).

I remember watching my grandfather shave with a straight. One of my fondest memories is when he would take me to the barber shop with him on the weekend, and the ancient barber would lather me up and "take care of my whiskers" by scraping the lather off my face with what was probably the spine of his razor. It made me feel very grown-up. I've done the same thing with my boys for a while now, and I find it pretty gratifying to have that interaction with my sons. It never occurred to me that their neighborhood cohorts would find my ritual so engaging. I can only hope that if any of them ever pick up a straight some years from now, they'll have fond memories of a warm summer day in Seattle and some guy shaving on his deck.

Sweet story!

Nice story. I love the old barbershop story. How many barbers these days would take the time out of there day to make a little boy feel like a man. Sometimes I think in our fast paced world we forget how the memories of our children can be greatly affect by how we treat them.

Good memories. nothing sort of a stroke will take them away from you.

Crom

I'll bet you have planted the seed for at least one future straight shaver there. Well done. Make a habit of it and you might have more next time. :D

X

Thats a great story. Hopefully in a few short years those boys will be buying their first straight and other shaving gear from us old men so that we can buy more stuff for ourselves.

Congratulations, on being able to shave with so many miniature distractions nearby! Quiet or not, I'm certain that I would have been paying more attention to what they were up to, rather than what I was doing. I really like this story. I hope my children will continue to show interest as they grow up, as well. However, I would keep an eye on that 8 year old Sweeney Todd fan. :P

I ahev a four year old and plan to show him everything I know when he is old enough to get the job done. So I may have this experience sometime in the future.

what a great story, I can see it in my minds eye.

Wonderful story!
--- but they watched Sweeney Todd at the age of eight? :eek:

Very cool, you're going to be the coolest dad on the block.

Very cool....sweet.

My own sons are 20 and 23 and far smarter than I but...... They take no interest in most of what their old man does. I keep telling them, when they inherit fly rods, fly vises, feathers, bonsai tools and trees, razors, hones, cameras (a leica even) on and on and on, they'll wish they had learned something about them. Guys, hang around, you might pick stuff up cheap (dont hang too closely, I'm in good health and expect to stick around as long as possible).

Gentlemen,

What a charming story.

The tone conjures up a warm and cozy fragrance of an old time aftershave splash.

Regards,

Obie

I just found this thread and think that's a great story. Reminds me of when I watched my dad shave in the mornings. If anything, you'll have gotten one of those kids to brush some soap on their grubby faces. :)
Ernest