Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys..

Willie Nelson recorded the above song several years ago and I am always reminded of it when I see men wearing their hats in inappropriate places.  I always wonder if the hats and boots come off while - well, never mind.

Recently, while out to dinner at an upscale restaurant, we were seated in an area where the tables were pushed together to seat about 30 people.  Soon, they started to filter in.  The women were dressed nicely in what I would call "business casual."  The men were dressed in jeans, shirts and what I am going to call "baseball type hats."  It was an obvious family of several generations.

Having been raised on a farm and later a small town in North Dakota, I was exactly exposed to the "high life."  I moved to Los Angeles, CA., after I graduated from high school and it was there I that I was exposed to what to do, when to do and how to show up in public.  This was back in the days when women wore high heels and business suits to work.  In fact, in wearing a pants suit, one office I was in, would not allow the women to take off their jackets.  

Later when I would go out to dinner with one of my older sisters and we saw a man wear a hat during the meal, she would say to me, "Poor man, he must not have had a mother to teach him to take off his hat while eating."

Back to the dinner, I wanted to scream at the men to take off their hats when in the presence of their wives, mothers, or mothers-in-law, and grandmothers.  I was stunned that one of the women said anything.  And in pure Oklahoma Bible belt tradition, a prayer was said before the meal. The hats didn't even come off then.  

Somehow in our relaxed traditions, we have given up good manners.  How sad.  When I see men opening up doors, or holding chairs for the women around them, I take it to mean that the women are adored and respected.  I like seeing that and I want more of it.  How about you?