You're right, beauflow. The world is rapidly changing. Things like curtesy, which serves no measurable purpose, are vanishing. I'm thinking that's the way it is now.

What might slow the breakdown is people like you & you bf's mom finding & appreciating each other. Traditions have little value beyond that which people give them freely, simply because they find pleasure in doing so.

But yeah, the little niceties of life give it a certain panache.