making memories

these pictures were taken many moons ago. 

i had just recently moved to atlanta to start my adult life.  random circumstances coincided and i found myself living in the same city as my best friend from high school, my big sister from my college sorority and a few other great friends both new and old.  it felt a little bit like melrose place…  in a very good way.  for our first thanksgiving as adults, we found ourselves unable to go home for that first holiday.  salaries didn't permit travel and days off were few.  and so we chose to spend the day together cooking the bird and enjoying the company of great friends.  

i remember the day well.  it was sunny and seventy degrees.  for this northern girl, it felt like heaven.  before the feast we played football at a nearby park and then divided the tasks necessary to make the feast.  erin made the turkey and i made rolls from scratch for the first time.  at the time, i knew very little about cooking and i remember marveling when the dinner turned out to be fantastic.  

it was a good day and as i remember it, i think about how fun it was to be surrounded by such great people.  i remember feeling grown up and very independent.  while i missed my family and the traditions that thanksgiving held for me, i liked carving a new way in the world.  the memories are special.

i didn't know it at the time, but just a few short months later i would meet my scott.  and my life would take another turn down a new and exciting path.  

i thought about that a lot today.  scott and i took the girls on a "hike" in the warm sun and enjoyed a day very similar to that one years ago.  the sun kissed my face and i celebrated how my life has turned out.  i have much to be thankful for!  

many years and three delicious daughters later, scott and i have created a life that gives us many smiles. thanksgivings are different than when i was a girl, surrounded by houses filled with extended family members, but while very different they are still very good.

and so, as i cooked today, i thought about the many things that i have to be thankful for.  my list is long…

a husband that takes amazing care of me, three healthy and happy little monkeys that make our house noisy and messy and filled with laughter and love, friendships that support me in ways i didn't even know i needed, a God who is ALIVE and real and ever so present, daily doses of sunshine, a community that just keeps getting better and better by the minute, a place to lay our heads and call home,…  the list is a lot longer than that and i'll admit, just writing those things above feels a tiny bit generic.  but each one is ever so true to my heart.

and while we cooked dinner, the girlies engaged in a thanksgiving activity of their own...

they each made thankful turkeys (idea and supplies provided by my adorable, loving, kind, thoughtful babysitter…  another person on my list of peeps i adore and am thankful for)!

watching them create their turkeys and generate their list brought me smiles.  as a mom, i hope that my girls realize HOW MUCH we have to be thankful for.  i hope they understand that while this life is their norm, it isn't the norm in much of the world.  today, i got a glimpse into their gratitude and i will say, i was a proud momma.  i like what they thought of and how they chose to express their own gratitude.

and getting the girls to take a post-feast picture of momma and dad was a sight to be seen.  this was the best we got.  giggle.  while it might not suggest that anyone in casa buser has "photographer" in their career path, it sure does capture the laughter that ensued.

 and as i reflected on both past and present, i was overcome by the fact that we are now making memories for them.  our girls will go on to celebrate this day in ways different from how we celebrate now, but they will always tap into that brain center that tells them what it felt like in the past.  my hope is that the sun on their face in the future will remind them of hiking with mom and dad.  as they sit around their own family table, i hope they will remember the conversations and intentionality we shared of verbalizing our gratitude.  and i can only hope and pray that their lives will be filled with deep caring love like i have found in my scott and deep belly laughs like i get to experience with all of them every day.

happy thanksgiving!