The ladies who raised and inspire me

Since my poor husband has been sick, I've had to take up doing more things so he can rest and get better; and I'm pleased to say that he is doing better. As a result, I've been getting up earlier than had become usual for me; and I'm getting quite good at it. Today was trash day, so I needed to take the garbage bags out to the curb, as he's not able to yet.

Then when I finished that chore, I migrated into the office, to get online, with a bowl of caramel, peanut butter oatmeal. When I got on facebook, in running through the posts on my home page, I ran across a post by a writer that I'm friends with; and no, I'm not giving his name. He bragged about how he cussed and how the characters in his books cussed, and encouraged people to brag about how they cussed. 

I didn't care for his post, and I posted the following comment on his post:

Well, I'm from Kentucky, and I grew up in a day and age when cursing in ordinary speaking was frowned upon and discouraged. If you dropped a hammer on your toe it was one thing, but your ability to curse wasn't something you advertised nor were proud of. Like I said, I grew up in a different day and age when folks were still taught and practiced manners and etiquette and such. Sad that such things have become extinct in modern day society.

That moved me to send him a private message, sharing my thoughts on his post, and letting him know that now I definitely wouldn't be reading and reviewing any of his books. (Note - I do run a book review blog and am always reading something.) But then I moved on from that. I got to thinking about the 3 ladies who taught me what manners and etiquette mean. 

They are:

My mother.

Momma and me when I was 1

My grandmother on my father's side.

My grandmother on my mother's side.

These are the 3 ladies who helped shape me into the person I am today. Yes, there were other factors and people who influenced me and affected who I would become, but these 3 ladies were my three main influences.

And have no doubt, they were ladies. I can't ever remember hearing any of these 3 ladies say even one curse word, and they discouraged it in others. In fact, in their presence, others just didn't curse. 

This all has set me to thinking, about the person that I want to present to this online world of today. And I want to honor those 3 fine ladies and their influence upon me. I put up the following post on facebook:

There was a time when you didn't hardly see a woman out in public in pants, and she certainly didn't use curse words. The emphasis on being a lady was taught to the young women of society. Back then, being a lady was about a lot more than just cursing. It was a way of acting, of carrying yourself, of dressing, of being.

In today's society, we've lost that to a great extent, among the female society; which is sad. Our President's wife is a great example of a woman who is a lady.  Unfortunately, public examples of ladies are few and far between today. One only has to check out the headlines about comedian Kathy Griffin to find an example of the total other end of the spectrum, far removed from the term lady.

So I'm going to endeavor to take a step back in time, to be the lady that these three fine women taught me to be. To regain that elegance and grace, that way of speaking and acting, that is mostly lost in today's society. It may not change anyone else, but it will change me; and I'm good with that.