Imogene

Does anyone remember "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever?"

A raggedy, taggedy family of kids ends up playing the main parts in a Christmas pageant because, well, most of the other kids refuse to work so closely with them. Little Imogene Herdman, the raggediest, taggediest of them all, ends up as the declarative angel. Of all the people!

It struck me before Christmas that I work with an Imogene Herdman. She's messy, unkempt, loud... Her classmates can't stand her, and her teachers see why.

She asked me for help with printing material from my website the other day, so I walked with her to the school library to go through the process. We found the problem, and I threw in a bit of encouragement.

"[Imogene], you really do have good problem-solving skills in that brain of yours! Keep it up; you can work through a lot of problems!"

It's hard for her to maintain eye contact, but she looked up at me for a few half-seconds--enough for me to reasonably hope that the encouragement had sunk in.

The kids have the option this week to purchase ribbons which will allow them to wear hats at school. The proceeds go to finding a cure for cancer. Kids could buy a ribbon a day for $2 each, or a weeklong ribbon for $8. Yesterday, "Imogene" showed up wearing a daily one and a weekly one.

She planted herself in front of my desk, in front of me while I was trying to take attendance and get her classmates settled, and pointed out the obvious ribbons on her tacky straw cowboy hat.

"Why do you have both of them?" was all I had time to ask.

She shrugged. "It's for a good cause!"

Good point.

"Imogene" came up to me at the end of class, with the daily ribbon in her hand. "Here," she said, holding it out to me. "You can wear this one. You can pin it on your shirt. It matches your sweater!"

Oh, my little Imogene--the unconventional bearer of good tidings!