Little Love Monsters

I think I’ve accidentally created some little monsters.

I’m pretty sure that my favorite artist other than Barb the Art Teacher, Fabio Napoleoni, could sketch an image perfectly depicting the monsters’ creation. In fact, I’d commission him to do this sketch if I had the money to pay for it!

Picture me standing in the front hallway of the school, right in front of a set of double doors that are placed at the intersection of a T.

Picture a 36 inch stool in front of me, my Willard sitting on top of the stool, me working on morning announcements while monitoring the comings and goings around me.

I open the door for bus drivers, stop wayward parents from going too far into the building, speak firmly to kids loitering in the bathroom, say good morning to both students and staff over and over again, and give quite a few hugs.

It’s in the saying good morning that I’ve accidentally created little monsters.

I have one little monster who hugs me every morning and stays right beside me until I kiss him on his forehead. I’ve written about him before.

I have another little monster who slowly walks toward me every morning and pretends not to be waiting for me to say, “Good morning, handsome,” but is really waiting for me to say, “Good morning, handsome,” at which point a tiny, almost unnoticeable smile appears on his face and he proudly walks to class.

I have one little monster who expects to see me in place each morning, lest her morning start in anxious tears.

I have at least five little monsters who stop for a hug every morning and many more who stop at least a couple of times a week.

I have a handful of 5th grade boy monsters who like to walk past and speak to me about random 5th grade boy things. Last week, when the question of the week was to write about someone you admire, one of those boys wrote that he admired me for teaching him music and for always making his mornings better. Now. Sometimes I get answers that I’m pretty sure are written to sway my opinion toward that student’s writing because the student wants a prize. For instance, a student once wrote that if he could go anywhere in the world then he would go to Beethoven’s house :-). But what got me about my 5th grade morning monster’s answer was that he added the little detail of me making his morning better. Until that moment, I’d not considered my 5th grade boy conversations overly important. But evidently, they are. Right down to conversations about shoes and hair cuts.

Friends, I have accidentally created a bunch of little monsters:

Little love monsters.

It’s one of the greatest privileges I can think for a person to have.

To all of you, especially teachers, who daily create and influence little love monsters, too: Thank you. Thank you for giving love and receiving love and teaching others to love in such a way that differences are accepted and quirks embraced and personalities nurtured exactly as they are.

Amen.