"Why do you do this?"

A typical Friday morning... Standing at the front door of my school saying "good morning" to tired teenagers and tired staff. With less than a week until spring break, everyone is in need of a rest.

But this morning, as I waited to greet the "stragglers" after the second bell, one student stopped as he passed by and came back. 

He said, "Can I ask you something? Why do you do this? Why do you stand out here every morning?" 

As someone who occasionally struggles to be succinct, I launched into an explanation... That I sometimes feel like I get stuck in my office and don't get the chance to see kids as much as I would like. That I like to check in and see how everyone is doing in the morning. That I appreciate the opportunity to say "good morning" to everyone as they come in...

And then I paused, realizing that this was likely way too much information for a groggy teenager first thing in the morning. 

I finally said, "Why do I do this? Because it makes me happy." 

He responded, "Good answer." and walked away.