I'm proud to be a member of the bravest organization in the history of mankind, the American Mustache Institute. I'm also confident that I - along with my mustached brethren - am one of the bravest people in the world, proudly sporting a delicious mustache when others are too weak to do so in the face of the anti-mustache aristocracy.

But quite frankly, most of what we do here at AMI is tongue and cheek, and there are many others out there who are brave and fighting things that most of us could not imagine. Whether it's a soldier walking the streets of Iraq, a firefighter rushing into a burning home, or someone fighting a terrible disease - those are the really brave people.

And with that, I'd like to introduce to some of my friends:

First, my good friend Kim Witherspoon of New Orleans. I just found out today that in November of 2007, she was diagnosed with cancer. And not surprisingly, she's fighting the good fight, as you can read here at CaringBridge.org's Web log (by the way, what a great service by CaringBridge). Kim is one of the most upbeat, sweetest people I know. She's always got a smile on her face, even when she's around me (she once nick-named me "The Itch" for being so continually annoying). Her brother Trip is just that, a trip, and he's a great guy too. Then she kind of went weird and married a guy who's name is not only "Wardlaw," but he looks just like Trip. Yeah, well, but I also must admit that Wardlaw is about as nice as Kim. Just good people. And they have a little boy named Jackson, named not for the spooky, formerly black child molester Michael Jackson, but for something else, I hope. The bottom line is that Kim is recovering and I can only wish and pray she gets back to playing the sitar in her midget ensemble soon.

Next, is a guy I grew up. Like Kim, he never had a mean thing to say....except about me from time to time as I periodically dated his sister and teased him about his larger than average nose. But even though I haven't seen him in a few years, Jeff Shearin of Springfield, Virginia is as fine a guy as I know without a mustache. Jeff was also recently diagnosed with Large B Cell Diffuse Lymphoma, and you can read more about his situation here. And as you'll read, he's doing  well and his doctors are confident about his recovery.

Anyhow, at AMI we normally don't write on serious topics, but this was a special exception for a few special people.

Our best to them both of them - they are the real brave ones.