I received an unusual compliment over 30 years ago:

“You’re weird!  You’re not normal!  I want someone normal.  I want to be with someone normal.”

The speaker was Laurie, a girlfriend.  Laurie was upset over my Valentine’s gift to her.  Instead of the Tree of Knowledge, I gave her the Book of Knowledge along with a big red sexy apple.  (The Book of Knowledge was a one-volume encyclopedia.)  She was not amused.

“I wanted flowers for Valentine’s Day — something normal.  A book and an apple are not normal Valentine’s gifts.  You’re weird!”

Laurie dumped me.  Devastation!  It was the first time in my life I experienced panic attacks with the thought of being alone.  I did not see her words as complimentary.

But over the years, I came to accept myself as “weird and not normal.”  That makes me unique.  I now wear Laurie’s words as a Badge of Honor.