What Happened to Charm School?

As a child, my mother and I were never close, so there are very few fond memories that I bring with me into adulthood. However, one of my most cherished memories was the day that my mother sat me down and gave me specific criteria (as did King Lemuel's mother in Proverbs 31) for the qualities that I should look for when the time came for me to choose a bride. My mother told me that I should choose a Lady and not a woman; and that there was a distinct difference between the two. She stated that the only criteria for a female to become a woman is that she be 18 years of age. A Lady on the other hand required training-Charm School training. A training that has been lost in my generation. I never fully understood what she meant until I met a real Lady: A Lady that had a gracefulness when she walked; A Lady that turned the heads of men with the fragrance that radiated from her body when she made her entrance into a room; A Lady with manicured hands and pedicured feet; A Lady that knew how to sit and properly order from the menu of a five star restaurant; A Lady that flossed her teeth after dinner and looked feminine even when she exercised. A Lady that owned more dresses than jeans and more high heels than Nikes and flip flops. A real Lady: A Lady that demanded the best that a man has to give; not with a Bitchy or condescending attitude but with words of encouragement and a soft touch that could melt the heart of Pharaoh; A Lady that wore lingerie at bedtime and not boxers and a t-shirt; A Lady that made you reach across the bed and bring her into your arms, because her touch quieted all of your boyhood fears, A Lady that was soft but not weak; strong but not dictatorial. Nowadays, a Lady is an endangered species. Today, you can not distinguish between the walk of a man and the walk of a woman. Today, women strive to be manly as if it is a badge of honor that symbolizes their independence. Today, women fight being feminine suggesting that it ties them to a decadent past-they are wrong. A man marries a Lady and hooks up with a woman. A man opens the car door for a Lady but calls a woman his Bonnie; suggesting that he is Clyde. A man makes love to a Lady and has sex with a woman-there is a difference. Therefore, I teach my daughters to be Ladies. I teach them to have the highest standards; women are common, and Ladies are rare-and they are not common. I teach them that in spite of what this decaying society says, there is still a great honor in being a Lady.