Compliment of a Lifetime

I smiled. It's true. What he said... 

Ashley and I took probably millions of pictures . Maybe I should stop exaggerating... But then I wouldn't make an interesting storyteller, would I? We were in Agra, following the night of terrorist attacks in Mumbai, and basically the thing to do is visit the Taj Mahal... Apparently it's a wondrous place. An anomaly perhaps? One of a kind. Unique. Architectures best use of symmetry ever! One would even go as far to say that you could split the Taj Mahal in half and you would find it to be a mirrored copy of each other. Or something. That's what they say. Okay, no one said that, I made that up.

Walking the pathway toward the monument is a weird feeling because you think, Wow this is it, I'm going to see the Taj Mahal. Then you go through the gate and there it is, looking fake as ever. That's how I felt about the Grand Canyon. 

Needless to say, if you know anything about us, you know that we love taking pictures so we started clicking away, getting every possible angle and shot we were capable of. We were in the center of the garden getting some shots, and like usual, the Indians wanted pictures with Ashley. She's a queen over here and reigns in pictures, especially with the younger ones. And funny, for the first time I was asked to be in a picture with some white dude. Hilarious. But this story really has nothing to do with me. This one Indian man asked Ashley to be in a picture with him and his family. She agreed. Afterwards they were so grateful and the man's departing words were, "You make the Taj Mahal all the more attractive." And Ashley and I looked at one another and go, "Oh. Wow." I turn to Ashley and go, "That was nice. Best compliment ever." and she started laughing, "That's probably nicest thing anyone has ever said to me." This stranger basically told my best friend that if it weren't for her, his picture with the Taj Mahal would just be ordinary and because of her being in the photograph it became extraordinary. Oh him.