How are you today?

I came in late to work today.

Luckily, my officemate was even later.

The first words out of my mouth were, "how are you today?"

I don't know why I asked it. It was blatantly obvious that he wasn't well..in fact I was pretty sure I knew exactly how he was judging from the fact that he was late, in a hurry, and slammed his bag on the floor.

His response, "Fine, how about you?"

"Fine" I replied without even turning my head to look at him.

It got me thinking about why on earth we ask each other this every day, at every meeting, and in almost every situation. It is so over used and banal. If someone ever actually gave me a real response to that question I think I'd be floored.

What if, in response to my officemate, I'd told the truth? It would have gone a little something like this:

"Well, (officemate), I'm feeling a little weirded out by the strange dream that I had just before waking up. I feel a little out of control because I no longer have a roommate and I'm paying way too much money to live alone in a 3 bedroom condo. I feel completely secure in my relationship with the ear doctor. I feel nervous about the huge choices I'm going to have to make in the next couple of months regarding grad school. I feel rejuvenated about my calling as FHE planner because I have some new and awesome people to help me out. I feel mischievous thinking back about what the ear doctor and I filled our evening with last night."

He would have looked at me and said, "oh"