It was the day before the end of a school quarter when we learned that Laura had not turned in a major school project.  Apparently, it was a “partner project” and, Lucky Laura, her partner was a flake.

Laura does not like confrontation, but we stood beside her while she called her partner.  As we listened to her end of the of the conversation we realized that, for no rhyme or reason, this partner was not going to help.  She had already committed to the “F”.  Laura hung up the phone and looked at us, those big blue eyes filled with tears.

That is when the Brandt-Erichsen family mobilized.  I mean the whole family, Gracie, Sarah, Me, Scott and Laura.  The project?  An ABC book about….. well, heck, I can’t even remember what it was about? Was it Mythology?  Maybe Medical or Literary terms?  I don’t know.  (That doesn’t speak well for those “busy-work” projects, huh? – different blog topic though)

Materials assembled, markers, glue, scissors, construction paper, magazines.  Laura was chugging away on the computer, printing out pages and we worked assembly line style, cutting and pasting and drawing this ABC book.

The girls bedtime came and went.  My bedtime came and went.  Soon the dogs were waiting at our bedroom door, ready for us to go to bed and still we worked.  We laughed, joked, popped popcorn and took breaks.  It was a fun family effort….. for the most part,  we bickered a bit too, and got tired and grumpy, but stuck with it.

Scott and I looked at the scope of the project and adopted the what- is- the- minimum- you- have- to- do- to- pass? attitude. But Grace, Laura and Sarah were perfectionist/artistic types.  They stuck with it and worked hard. When the caps were back on the glue sticks, the markers put away, and the remains of the magazines in the trash, this Mythology/Medical/Literature/Whatever terminology ABC book was a thing of beauty.  We all high fived then headed off to bed for a short night of sleep

Then we waited.  And waited to see what our grade was. Finally, Laura got the project back with a solid B+, which we should have been grateful for, but it stung a little, our grade really should have been an A.  Honoring Laura’s wished, we did not call, but you can’t help wondering if her partner was satisfied with that B+.