I love you

So I once had this Little Darling who was a pain. To be fair, it wasn't his fault, but the kid had more anger in him than we usually see in most adults. I'm talking like, he had no friends, he was rude, and he used to get so worked up that you could actually SEE the tension in his body.

However, inside that hard shell was a loving and smart little boy. I know we aren't supposed to have favorites, but come on. He will most likely be on my top 5 of all time! This is one of my favorite stories about him.

He came in angry- you could almost see the dark cloud hanging over him. As usual, I chirped "Good Morning! I'm so happy to see you today!" and gave him my most dazzling smile.

Nothing.

The rest of the morning was like pulling teeth. Finally I was able to get a moment to talk with him and get to the bottom of the issue. As he talked, it became obvious to me that he needed to talk to someone one-on-one right away, and I couldn't do that with him at the moment. So I sent him to our amazing guidance councilor, who we will call Mrs. Wonderful.

He stayed with her for over an hour, and met up with the rest of us at lunch. I asked him if he felt better, and he nodded and said, "Mrs. Wonderful said to tell you that I love you." Of course I melted a bit and assured him that I loved him too.

After school, I went by Mrs. Wonderful's office to thank her. We chatted about him for a few minutes, and I said, "Oh, and he told me about what you said. To tell me that he loves me, I mean." She stared, blinked, and said, "I told him how lucky he was to have you, but I didn't tell him to tell you he loved you. He must have come up with that one on his own."

Sigh. That's what makes this job worth it, no?