What makes it all worth it

So I've been under-rested since I got here. Tonight's dinner was corn dogs, which I don't eat (I'm still hungry). Tomorrow I have to wake up at 645am. Today I worked virtually without break except to eat from 800am to 930pm. I made about 40 dollars. By all logic I should be miserable but instead I think I'm the happiest I've been since I left Denver. Here's why:

Early on my own accord I spoke with a staff member. He was a nice guy and I genuinely like him but I was worried that he was at camp for the wrong reasons and wasn't really getting into it, particularly some of the songs and other silliness. I as I always am, was blunt about what I thought. I told him that if he wanted to be a great staff member which I thought he could be I would help him and if he was hear just to have fun, get drunk, and get laid, that I wanted to know that too so that at least I wouldn't waste our time. He said how he didn't realize that he had been putting off a bad vibe and said that he did want to be a good staff member and role model. We talked about some things that he didn't neccesarly love about camp and I was frank with him and told I felt the same way about some of those things, but it is a package, and the package is worth it. It was a great conversation and he seemed genuinely happy we had it with a desire to work on his attitude. Still, it could have just been lipservice, I've had many staff that will say one thing to your face and another behind your back.

Later that night we had 'songfest' where we learn a number of songs all at once. I noticed that the staff member was noticably more into and seemed to be having fun, a big change. He wasn't the craziest or most energetic but he was participating and having fun. Then just 20 minutes ago as I was walking to my office to work on a different topic for my blog he came up to me. He said I was just the man he was looking for. He wanted to thank me the conversation we had earlier. He said it couldn't have come at a better time. He had fun tonight and credited it to me. He then said the nicest thing that any staff member has said to me since I joined the leadership team two years ago, "I think my summer is going to better because of you". And it was all worth it.

Joey