I've had mine for over 30 years and my kids wouldn't recognise me if I shaved it off. My wife likes my beard but she's seen what I look like without it.
I didn't realise just how attached I was to it until it came under threat. A new rule was brought in at work, that you couldn't have a beard if you were trained to wear breathing apparatus. After a series of e-mails in which my boss gently tried to persuade me to go clean shaven and I politely, but firmly, refused, he took me off the list of BA wearers. There is a get-out clause if you can't shave for medical reasons – in my case it is clinical ugliness.