Pageant Question 2: What is the best compliment you have ever received?

Who else finds it annoying when someone fishes for compliments?  You can tell when someone is putting themselves down simply to force the other person to contradict and pay him or her a compliment.  Hate it.  Which is why a compliment when you're not expecting it is so much better: it becomes an honest surprise.  The best compliment I ever received was from a now long-ago ex I'll call Carmello.  I wasn't expecting it, and the surprise has stayed with me all these years.

I was sent by my temp agency to work an "I Love Dance" competition selling bumper stickers and overpriced diamond-look pins that spelled out words like, "Dance" and "Tap" and "Dance Mom".  I stood behind one of many black-draped folding tables and hawked my wares.  Another temp stood at my table and she seemed about my age.  She was tall, with braided hair and gold glasses that stood out against her dark skin.  On our break, we walked across the street to grab snacks from the Wilson Farms then stood in the convention center hallway to look over the dancers and their families as we munched.  When I got home after that long day on my feet, I told Carmello all about this girl because she was the highlight of my day.

She was quick and witty, but she delivered her wit in such an offhand, dry way that if you weren't listening carefully, you'd miss it.  She could spot a person in the crowd and give a ripping commentary that made me spit out my Rold Gold pretzels.  Carmelllo listened patiently for a while, and before he walked off to another room, he said, "She sounds like you."

My audience had left in the middle of my day's description, but I was too stunned to continue my story anyway.  I don't even think he knew that it was such a complement to me, or how unexpected it was.  I hadn't been fishing.  I hadn't even realized the girl and I had anything in common.  She was cool, and I didn't think I was cool at all.  This possibly unintended compliment has stayed with me for all this time, even if the girl, and the ex, are long gone.