"i can live for two months on a good compliment"

it's never been easy for me to accept a compliment. it's probably not easy for many of us to bask in compliments, especially if they're not doled out on a routine basis or are actually just back-handed attempts at praise (i.e. "welp, that dinner wasn't so bad afterall").

when i receive a compliment, i try my best not to pass it back to the person giving it like they were forcing me to touch something nasty or insisting they must be (take your pick) blind, crazy, in possession of poor taste or a hermit simply in thinking enough of me to say something nice. compliments, i've read, are little gifts and you should accept them with grace as you would any gift given to you because it makes the giver feel good.

so, honestly, i got this really spectacular gift from a woman whose purchases i was ringing up at the bookstore during the waning hours of christmas shopping. i was tired, i could barely mutter "would you like a gift receipt tonight?" to people after talking for so long, and i was about ready to end it all when i completed a transaction and wished this unassuming, motherly woman at the other side of the counter a merry christmas and handed her purchases over. she turned to leave, then quickly stepped back into the line of customers forging ahead and leaned over the counter with a smile and said something to me. because she whispered, i had to lean in closer and asked her to repeat herself.

"you have the loveliest complexion, and your eyes, dear, are very pretty," she repeated, this time a bit louder.

i was stunned by the graciousness of her compliment, and i have to admit, i stood up a bit straighter and felt rejuvenated as i thanked her (over and over again). her kindness carried me through the remaining hours of my shift. as mark twain said, i, too, can live for two months on a good compliment. i was still holding onto that lightness when i returned home and my husband asked how the night had been.

" heh...maybe she was hittin' on you!" he smirked when i relayed my story to him.

wha? impossible! you're taking my gift and making it something dirty!

then i shared the story with a male confidante.

"duuuude!" he cheered. "she was so lookin' to get her books for free, ya know what i'm sayin?!'"

after reminding him that, based on our history, i was certainly no 'dude,' i had to conclude that guys must like to go for that "cinemax moment" any chance they can. at least the sampling of the male population i put this hypothesis out to.

i'll just take it as the compliment it was meant to be, because now, even days later, i recall it and it makes me smile.

and besides, if she was actually trying to get her books for free (ya know what i'm saying?!), she surely would have gone straight for complimenting the kick ass rack located mere inches from the lovely complexion and pretty eyes.

and that, my friends, is my "cinemax moment."