This longtime custodian retired, then signed up as a school volunteer

""Hugging those kids and letting them go away feeling good about themselves is more important," Esser, 86, told The Washington Post."

""Some of the stuff has to wait so I can take care of my kids.""

""It's been an exciting life for me," Esser said."

""... I just want to keep going.""

Rodney Esser worked 61 years as a custodian at Park Elementary in Cross Plains, Wisconsin, and is known to students and colleagues as Mr. Peanuts. Esser prioritizes building relationships with children, stopping to give high-fives, hugs and fist bumps even when responding to emergencies. His family farm produced crops on the land before the district bought it in 1964, and the sale included a custodial job that he accepted in 1965. At 86, Esser announced retirement at the end of the school year but agreed to return as a volunteer mentor to continue supporting students.

Read at The Washington Post