The most beautiful, sincere compliment I have ever received was in Paris, on the last day of my five week study abroad program in the city. After class, I approached my high-beginner French professor, an adorable woman name Marie Cayol who looked straight out of Amélie, to thank her for the nice, albeit poorly-translated on my end, semester. She responded in a typical manner, by saying what a pleasure it was to teach me and whatnot, before she grinned and told me “vous êtes comme un soleil.”
Surprisingly, at this point, my high-beginning understanding of the language allowed me to take in the warmth of the compliment in its native tongue, but my professor still looked at me with kind eyes and whispered in English: “you are like a sun.”
I was floored. I had never heard anything like it, or at least not directed at me. I left the campus, and the next day, the country, with a new spring in my step.
Suns are bright. Suns are warming. Suns are hot (duh). Suns are difficult to ignore. Suns give and bring life. You feel the sun the second you step out the door and into its presence. Suns shine.
We can all be suns. We can all be moons if we wish. We can’t all be jazz singers, but I kind of want to try it out (at least give it a shot, you know?).
Every single one of us has the potential to be radiant if we want to be. I hope this site brings you some warmth.
Love,
Camille xo
P.S., I know that “Comme Une Soleil” isn’t grammatically correct, but I attribute a lot of my shine to my womanhood, so the feminine pronoun I will use.