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Students get inside the heart of this Scrooge

JANESVILLE — If you told me last December I would attend a children's Christmas program in the coming year, I would have told you to lay off the eggnog.

On Wednesday, I, Catherine W. Idzerda, will attend the Adams Elementary School holiday program.

That's right, the woman who believes dark irony leavened with heavy doses of sarcasm is the proper recipe for a successful life will attend a sentimental and gooey holiday program.

And I'll be arriving early so I get a good seat.

Last year, The Janesville Gazette participated in a series of discussions about poverty, race and class. As a result, some of us decided to volunteer in schools.

Adams doesn't have the highest poverty level in the district—far from it. But I picked Adams because a fellow curler, Stephanie Gogul, teaches there. She's a professional's professional, cheerful with kids but determined and deliberate about their education.

Since September, I've been going to Adams about once a week. I read to kids during snack time or at the library. Sometimes, I stay for "free choice" time and once joined them at recess.

And now, I love them.

I can't explain how it happened.

Unlike most people, I don't find kids innately lovable. I'm not sentimental. I don't even like kittens.

But these kids have so engaged my heart and mind that I remember the details of their lives and carry them with me like little treasures.

Keep in mind, I'm the kind of person who absent-mindedly files news stories in the wrong spots, annoying editors and causing them to spend precious time searching the system for them.

Why can I remember that Evan went to the Discovery World Museum and his dad operates one of those giant cranes? Or that Zoe likes horses, Angela can dance, Belle was the first to learn all of the words to the holiday songs and Madison is an exceptional reader?

Once I said: "I have a cat named Bob."

My buddy Lucas said: "You can't have a cat named Bob. My dad has a friend named Bob."

Another time, I put on Lucas' nametag and went around being Lucas. He just grinned and rolled his eyes, incredulous.

My friend Darren, who is also smart and funny, loves racecars and trains. He once asked me to get more stories about "cars that crash into one another."

Emma makes her own books, coloring all the pictures; Jessica likes the story of the ticklish duck; Jarred can count to about a kagillion; Kidist is kind; Gavin's smile could turn Darth Vader into a kindly old grandpa—really, he should charge people to see his grin.

Who am I missing? Laura, Ryan, Lexie, Emily, Jesse, Hannah and Lauren: Like their classmates, their kindness to each other, their imagination and their energy are infectious.

Tomorrow, I'll get to see them all together at the big show.

I can hardly wait.