'Ey Professeur

When I rediscovered Rick after 24 years of not seeing him in Geneva's Starbucks he was very, very corporate looking:

• Short hair
• Suit/Tie
• Contact lenses
• Clean shaven

When he was still in Texas, he asked what I thought if he grew a beard. I thought it would be wonderful.

He has beautiful graying hair on its way to being silver. I asked what he thought about letting it grow. "You'll look more like a French intellectual," I said while thinking silver fox.

He did. Then he stopped wearing contacts except when he was playing golf. His eyes lost the red and their beautiful grey stood out.

The suits went for jeans, sweaters and scarves. Altogether much better than the corporate look, although he was accused of looking like a hippie when he went back to Texas.

Last night we were with my French/French teacher and her Italian husband having an apéro in a local bar.

A man who had many too many glasses looked at Rick, "'Ey Professeur," he mumbled.

Hmmm. I would say that the transition from corporate to intellectual is complete.