Update Thursday 2:08 PM
Right before our trip Dave decided to shave his winter beard. (He grew a voluminous man-beard over the cold months to protect his face while working on the house.) Thank goodness for warm weather. While shaving, he paused and decided to leave me a little surprise, (which some of you have already noticed). That’s right. The little surprise he left me was his new super-sized, Marlboro-Man-styled mustache. Of course, there were many moments this past week that I thought my husband had been replaced by Jason Lee (My Name is Earl), which may not be such a bad thing.
And then, at the airport, our friend Alan suggested Dave looked more like a 1970’s porn star. . . What’s the dude’s name again? Oh yeah, you know, Ron Jeremy? Eww!
So, of course, on the plane, we played that one game — you know, the game where you figure out your porn star name by the first street you lived on and the name of your first pet. I believe mine was Myrtle Freemont (after Myrtle, my first pet turtle — may she rest in peace and obviously Freemont for the first street I lived on). Now Dave’s porn star name almost seemed premeditated. When you hear it, you will know what I mean. But seriously, how could his parents know those thirty some years ago that their mustache-sporting son would be playing this silly game someday. (Drum roll) Have I kept you waiting long enough? His porn star name is Chongo Duke. We prefer to call him, THE DUKE (or DUKE CHONGO).
The persona was born as the words Duke and Chongo left his lips. I was suddenly not traveling with my husband (and Ew, I wasn’t traveling with a 1970’s porn star either). Instead, we were all traveling with THE DUKE. There were moments when I wanted to be embarrassed about my scruffy, handlebar-mustachioed husband, but those moments were very few. I actually think he looked kind of sexy with his crazy stache.
On that plane ride, and maybe because Wilmer Valderrama was sitting kitty corner from me (yes, this is a teaser for my Wilmer story), I decided to embrace THE DUKE, and so I did.
Sadly, last night Dave pulled out his razor and shaved that hairy Muppet off of his face. THE DUKE is no more. May we all keep him in our memories.