What's the greatest compliment you have ever received?

“You sir are a debit to your race.”

My son once had a high school assignment in which he had to write about someone he greatly admired and why and why no one else could compare. He wrote it about me. His teacher gave his report before Christmas and told him to give it to me for Christmas. It was the most meaningful compliment and gift, I have ever received. First and only letter that ever gave me so much joy. Up until then, I knew he loved me but as a mom you always wonder if they really know how much you love them.

My father saying to me “You do everything so well” twice in the last six months of his life.

Well, this is the most memorable compliment I ever received.
I was working at a little Kosher bakery. I was their new cake decorator. I grew up far away from any opportunity to learn anything about Kosher. I was working hard to learn what it would take to please the people I was decorating for. One day, I got an order for a cake to celebrate the successful completion of reading the five books of Moses. The teacher was very pleased with his class, and wanted very specific details, and done exactly according to his directions. I was so nervous my Hebrew writing would be wrong, or some other mistake. Once it was done, I peeked out every few minutes all day to see if he was there. At last, a cashier told me he was there and wanted to see me. I could have bawled. Something was wrong, I let him down. When I came out front, someone said, “There she is”, and applause burst out. Everyone there was cheering and applauding. I was so happy, and relieved! It was so cool that he took the time to let me know I’d met his approval.

“You’re not like the other boys.”

“You’re a great dad”.

And

“You’re a hero to me.”

Both brought tears to my eyes.

Maybe it was being nominated for Senior Class Beauty . I lost. lol

From my father “Your not as dumb as you look”, I rarely speak to him.

A very pretty young woman at work once told me that she met some guy the night before, and that they had only spoken for a few minutes before he asked her out.

She told me that she only said ‘yes’ because the guy reminded her of me….

From a doctor in a trauma center. You saved his life. I had just spent two hours with my hand in a guys neck holding his carotid artery closed.

My husband told me that he honestly doesn’t know where or what kind of man he’d be today if he didn’t know me, but it wouldn’t be anywhere close to as good a person as he is now. So sweet!

I’ve had a couple that really touched me.

Once, I posted a poem I had written on a writers’ forum. This was… ten years ago or so. One of the users wrote to me privately to thank me for posting it, and to say that they were blind, but they could “see” what was happening as they read it.

And pretty much every time my son says “Mama, you’re the best cooker ever!”

When my kids say i’m the greatest Dad ever, I know this to be the case but still nice to hear.

I have a friend who tells me I am the big brother he never had and always wanted.

I am told on a fairly regular basis that I have “made somebodies day” with my humor, that I have really good taste and the highest compliment?
Probably a few weeks ago when a new friend told me how much they liked me and my daughter and said ” I can tell what a great mom you have been, E….. is so smart, kind and artistic just like you!” Jeez….someone put a pin in my enormous ballooned out ego. lol

I had to back in to the loading dock,and put both trailers within 4inches of the dock I did it on my first attempt and a driver watching come over and said your really good at backing up a super train (2 trailer transport truck).

It’s probably not the greatest compliment, but I think the compliment that had the most impact was from a manager at a job that probably wasn’t the best fit. I was young, trying very hard to make it work, and frustrated. I was worried to be without a job if I left.

She just said I could do more, and specifically “we could drop you in the middle of China tomorrow and by that night you’d have a family to stay with, a job lined up, and know enough Chinese to make people laugh”...

I’m not vain enough to think that’s true, but she didn’t have to say anything, me leaving just made her job harder. It made me realize there were more options than I was seeing, and I still think of it whenever I find myself scared or nervous to take on something new.

I think everyone, especially when they’re starting out, needs a little push to get them over the hump and to remind them they’re more than they see in the mirror.

Two things are tied for first.

1) One of our regular customers asked if I was the owner of the store. I was like, “uh… no. Why?” figuring it was just because she sees me there all the time. (Seriously, I never go home. I might as well have a little camp bed in the break room.) She said, “Well, you really know your way around this place. It seems like it’s more than just a job to you.”

I got a little choked up at that one, seriously. People have no idea how hard I work or how much I care. But maybe… one person does? My goals here are pretty lofty- I want to bring European wine culture to the US, and make our little neighborhood store one of the best in the city. I’m a college dropout with only three years of wine work experience; FML.

2) This one is pretty embarrassing, but if I’m being honest then I have to include it. A while ago I wrote a piece of fiction that has no audience except for me. Two characters abandon their old lives in a moment of crisis, and meet at random in a train station. They spend the next few weeks traveling around these boring, backwater places and spending away all their money. Nothing much happens, but it’s a ~voyage of self-discovery.~

I posted it in an online writing community for critique. That place is usually pretty harsh, so I was expecting for it to get ripped to pieces. A member that I had never talked to before sent me a private message that was a page long, where she gushed about each and every thing she loved about it, in very specific detail.

I was totally fucking flabbergasted, in the best way possible. All the things she liked were the things I’d put the most time and effort into… and it just came out of nowhere. I’m floored that she said such kind things to a total stranger, and that she got what I was trying to do. An audience of two???

@Haleth That’s wonderful!

Brings to mind a compliment I had forgotten about, an old writing mentor told me that my writing style was like my personality, ” formidable yet sincere.” I think that was a compliment anyway. haha

” Your answer here amazed me, because you are someone whose answers I have come to respect.”
This was the best compliment I got online and that too from a very senior and respectable old member in Askville. I miss Tuppence over here.
Basically I am an introvert, I just express my views here online. Some of the best compliments I got were mostly from my Askville friends especially ibstubro and avalanchefan regarding my answers. They are among the very few people who inspire me.

I miss Avalanchfan too @Smitha. I wish he were here so we could compliment HIM.

In my solo performing days (singing, guitar and pre-recorded backup), a couple in their thirties and their 10-year-old son approached me during an afternoon gig at some sports bar in Orlando. They said….

“We are from New Hampshire, and go to places like this all the time. You are as good as anyone we’ve ever heard….”

Lugging all that gear and driving home in heavy traffic seemed a little more worthwhile on that day….

My husband and I have been told by all of the teachers of all three of our children that they wish every child could be as good a student as our children are.

Our parent teacher conferences are so boring.~

I also received a very nice compliment from my youngest son’s ex-girlfriend recently. I ran into her while shopping and she told me she never met parents as cool as Jon and I. She said we are the nicest and coolest parents she’s ever met.

Our oldest son once mentioned that he was happy to have normal parents. (haha. Jon and I normal?) He said that most of the parents of his friends are always angry, or disfunctional or sad. He was happy that we gave him stability and a somewhat normal life.

Family is the most important thing in my life and it feels good to know that we’re doing it right.

Well, I only “know” you both in the most narrow sense, but what you have said is not surprising to me at all. When the time comes when you and Jon have left the planet, your adult children and all of their friends will continue to remember and love talking about how great you both were.

And there is nothing cooler than that.

Nothing….