What was the best compliment you’ve received?

People have called me many things over the years — writer, mentor, veteran, wife, mother, grandmother. Each title carries weight, each one a chapter of who I am. But the best compliment I ever received had nothing to do with a byline or an award. It came quietly, the way the most meaningful things often do.

“After I talk to you, I feel so much better.”

Those words landed somewhere deep, in a place that no trophy could reach.

I’ve always been an empath. I didn’t choose it any more than I chose the color of my eyes. It simply is — this ability to feel what others feel, to step into someone’s storm and stand there with them, unhurried, fully present. When a friend sits across from me and begins to unravel the tangle of their heart, I don’t reach for solutions right away. I just listen. Really listen — the way you listen to music you love, catching every note, every rest, every silence between the words.

And then there are the hugs.

My friends know about my hugs. They’re not polite shoulder-pats or quick hello embraces. They’re the kind of hugs that mean I’ve got you. The kind that seem to drain the trouble right out of a person and pour something warmer back in — call it love, call it light, call it simply the comfort of knowing you are not alone. Friends have driven across town just for one. I take that as the highest honor.

But here’s what I’ve learned about being a giver of light: you cannot pour from an empty vessel. After I’ve held space for someone’s pain, after I’ve offered up my energy like an open hand, I have to retreat. I have to be still. Whether it’s a quiet morning with my coffee, a walk beneath the wide Florida sky, or simply sitting in the hum of my own home — I recharge. I gather myself back.

Because the best compliment I ever received wasn’t just a compliment. It was a calling.

And I intend to keep answering it.