A Gift

Let's see.  In December of 2003, I was a junior in college.  My life consisted of class, naps, papers, going out, road trips, shopping, studying...and not cooking.  Really, the normal college life.  So when I opened this present from Momma Debi that Christmas, I was all, "Cookbooks?  Hmmm.  What does one do with cookbooks?" 

At that point in my life, this was a gift that I knew would be a treasure to me someday.  But as a junior in college, when EasyMac was still an appropriate meal, it just wasn't there for me yet.  

Well, now I'm there.  These are truly a treasure to me.  They are a compilation of all of the recipes that my mom or dad have used for the past thirty plus years to feed us, their family.  There are recipes from every branch of my family tree, including great-grandparents and every recipe card was typed by Momma Debi with the name of the person who originated the recipe noted in parantheses.  Yes, all of those recipes from all of those different family members fed us the nourishment our bodies needed to grow.  But, I think more than that, those recipes are full of the love that nourished our souls.   

Treasure. 

Momma Debi compiled and gave these recipe books to me and other family members out of love...it had to be out of love because I'm sure it was a serious amount of work to round up all of those hundreds of recipes, type them, and then organize them into books. 

And everytime I go to pull one of the books out of the cupboard, like last Sunday when I was making frosting, I feel like my mom is with me.  Right there with me, measuring and mixing.  There is a legacy involved in family and I am so very grateful that Momma Debi had and still has the foresight to know how to pass that legacy on to the next generations.    

Now that I've grown up past the days of EasyMac and naps and parties and homework, I feel I have capability to truly treasure that legacy and hopefully continue to foster it in my own life.     

I believe in the passing down of legacies and I can now say that I treasure those recipe books that were given to me when I was a junior in college without any kitchen utensils.   

Because each recipe is a mixture of my family.