The woman in New York City's Upper East Side shouted to me as I approached.
"WORK that jumpsuit, girl!"At first I wasn't sure if she was speaking to me at all, but she waved her cigarette and smiled as I passed close to her on the sidewalk. It was only a random compliment from a total stranger, yet more than a year later I think of that beautiful, brown-skinned woman whenever I wear the black jumpsuit. She could have silently admired my fashion choices, but she chose to remark on it to my face. Because of her casual brand of kindness, a powerful aura of confidence surrounds that jumpsuit to this day. There's something to this, I think: although negative words stick around our hearts, kind words stay even longer.