Decorum is death! Tattoo it on your heart!

You can't be what others want you to be and still be yourself. This I know well, I'd tell her--and then let her read my eyes. She has a heart sympathy could melt. She'd understand me, I'm sure.

Shakespeare's advice is essential: "To thine own self be true." Yes, but who is thine own self? How can we be true to a mystery?

Don't marry too young. Wait at least till your late twenties. And the man should be several years older, so you'll always be young in his eyes.

And don't be afraid of new experiences! A husband has needs! It's not fair to ask your man to go through his whole life without ever having experienced certain things that he reads about all the time in books and magazines! Hell, it's right there on the grocery store counter! It's not like he's making it up! Other people do these things! Why shouldn't he have the experience? And don't tell him how you weren't brought up to do that kind of thing. He won't want to hear it. Or you're afraid it might hurt. If you love him, you'll be willing to risk a little pain. A man is creature of many needs. A good woman knows this and satisfies those needs. For that, the man adores her.