Alannah's Big Show! Research project: All About Horses! 

I thought I was done with homework for a while - at least until the Spring 2014 semester, which is when I plan to take those two last classes for my MA in Urban Affairs - but apparently, I was not. For the last week and a half, my daughter and I have been working non-stop on her projects for school. The big one - her research project on horses - was due today. While I didn't particularly like the mad rush in the end when she had dutifully been taking her notes for months now (we didn't get any project instructions till the Fri. before it was due) and I didn't like having to be up till 4 and 3 AM again 2 nights in a row; and while I still haven't slept away those missed hours yet, and I am spacy and my eyes feel worse for the wear.... I have to say, I am more than content now. I am absolutely thrilled. Not only did she do an amazing job, and work hard to bring something great to fruition, but the frantic dash in the last hours ended up garnering her grandparents help. They held cue cards and glued strips of dialogue to them, and we all clipped said dialogue into strips to affix (which I had typed up and printed all day at work), and it really felt great to have a team working on something that was so important to my girl. Even at night when Nana and Poppy had gone home and Alannah went to sleep, and there were 29 clips to be made into one movie - with editing to be done on many of them - and the tempermental computer was giving me problems in the eleventh hour, as it threatened to prevent me from uploading a finished product to YouTube for her to present in class the next day: I wasn't alone. Having just arrived home from a double shift, my boyfriend/mate-for-life saw my pain, panic, and stress; and when IMovie repeatedly needed 20, 10, or 15 minutes to optimize, he came to my aid. He sent me to bed to "lie down" each time with a promise to wake me when done. He did. Every single time. And finally, the movie was done! And my daughter's smile in the morning was beautiful, and her pride in her work was art. And I know that whatever happens today in school - if the presentation goes well or not - we all had an amazing experience. And I feel wonderfully not alone, and unencumbered by any cursed burden. This was not just homework, this was familywork - this was work of the best kind. This was joy, this was creativity, this was helping each other; and that is what children bring out in people in the most unlikely and surprising times - their (very) beautiful best. So thank YOU, my Miss Alannah. The pleasure was all mine!