My wife recently paid me the nicest compliment I've ever received. She compared being married to me to driving her Acura TL-S. Okay, technically it's OUR sports car, but she drives it more than I do, so I consider it mainly hers.
So what's the resemblance?
It is that until she drove that car, she didn't realize that having a more powerful car could actually make the experience qualitatively different. Our other cars have all been Maximas, and although they are certainly not underpowered, they don't have the same ability to GO when you step on the accelerator. The instant response of the TL-S makes her feel a lot more secure when getting on the expressway (which she used to hate).
Similarly, she realized some time after we were married that having a spouse who could understand complex ideas easily and translate them into simpler terms made a qualitative difference in her life. Whenever she runs across anything particularly complicated, she often asks me to "understand it for her", and I do.
I hasten to add that she is in no way lacking in intelligence herself; we wouldn't be a very good match if that were the case. But she still finds me a handy "labor-saving device" when doing intellectual heavy lifting, and I certainly don't mind doing that for her.
In our next thrilling installment, I'll compare her to a famous movie star...
