Best Compliments

Every once in a while, someone gives me a compliment that really makes my day (month, year...). Here, in order, are the compliments that have meant the most to me:

1. I was at Fred Meyer browsing in the housewares department while I waited for my then-fiancé (now ex) to finish up some shopping. I was feeling particularly grungy because of having spent the weekend camping without access to a shower and particularly low because my fiancé had just unleashed a torrent of verbal abuse. The weekend had been quite painful, but I was trying hard not to let the degree to which his words had impacted me visibly show. Anyway, I was standing there alone in the housewares department of Fred Meyer on our return home from our camping trip when a handsome stranger who looked like he was in his early forties approached me and said emphatically, "If I were twenty years younger, I would be camped out on your doorstep." My initial reaction was one of hostility at what I thought must be a cheap pickup line, but when I looked more closely, I saw that he had a kind face and was being completely sincere. I simply said, "Thank you," and he smiled warmly and walked away. It cheered me up immeasurably.

2. "You have true grit." My mom told me this, and I like to think that it's true.

3. "You have an ageless face and such a cheerful, pleasant disposition." My friend Sarah, on why most people who meet me think I'm in my early twenties when I am actually 30. This is a much nicer explanation than immaturity.

What are the best compliments you have ever received?