I meant that as a compliment.

Suburban Chicago, January 1970. My Mom and Lily chat with Jadzė D's husband. The fellow had "had a wicked sense of humor and was the master of the backhanded compliment." When he took me out for a dance at our wedding reception, he observed—in mid tango—how relieved everyone was that I was a pretty bride because I had been such a pathetically homely child.

 

The trio here sits in the Rec Room of my friend Kris's childhood home.