Chef, cheval, chevaleresque and chevalier

I was looking up a word the other day in my dictionary. It was Chef. That is what James is the medicine-chef and during the staff meeting on Monday I looked at his door and decided it was time to find out what it meant exactly. According to my Berlitz dictionary ti means leader, boss, you know stuff like that. This isn’t the point or my story. . . my eyes then wondered over the page to Cheval—horse, nice word. I already knew that. But in the same space as horse was chevaleresque—chivalrous! “Lovely, I love that word”, I thought. Always good to be reminded of it, so I kept looking and saw chevalier—knight. Then it all hit me! Men, on horses, saving women in distress! Duh, the knights in mid-evil times were the ones who protected people; they defended the weak and beautiful. They are the ones who created chivalry!! Long live the French! A knight rode a cheval, and was very chevaleresque because he was a chevalier. Clearly I do have French in my blood because I believe greatly in those words. I think there should be more men in the world who re-evaluate what they are defending and who they are with and if they are helping the women in their lives to feel more beautiful and treasured.

If you are a man reading this I challenge you to take a stand, become a chevalier and open doors, step aside to let her go first, carry the heavy box, stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves. Do it for a day, or better yet a week. I bet you will tell a difference in the way you feel about yourself and the way others look at you.

Thank you to all those men in my life who have been chevaleresque and are modern day chevaliers. You have made me feel like a beautiful princess and I wish you were here to remind me on days I don’t feel like one.

Carry on men, carry on.