Thankful Thursday

How appropriate that this Thankful Thursday would fall on the 16th of October. October 16th is a special day in our family...

Isn't it amazing the things you remember about your life? I remember being in the first grade and crying on the days that it rained(?). I remember sneaking out during one of my father's birthday parties to ride my older brother's "sooped-up" bicycle, which I was forbidden to do, and wrecking, hitting my head and being taken to the emergency room (happy birthday, Daddy). I still have the knot on my head from that stunt! I remember "field days" in elementary school and after school dances in junior high. And of course, the football games and band camps and basketball games and homecomings in high school. I remember spending many spring breaks in the outterbanks of North Carolina. I remember dying easter eggs with my mom and brother. I remember sunbathing with my grandmother (we were a very young family - ha!). I remember my mom throwing great parties (we're talking live bands, people) for any real reason she could find!!! My mom LOVES to celebrate an occassion! I have countless memories with my best friend Teri - oh the times we had together.

But the clearest memory I have is the birth of my daughter. Today is Brandi's 26th birthday. And I cannot believe it. How thankful do you think I am? I remember the 16th of October of 1982 like I was experiencing it this very moment. From the moment I woke up that morning to the moment my mom finally made it to the hospital for Brandi's arrival. That was a bittersweet day, my friends. For while I was delivering Brandi, my parents were in Southern Virginia burying my grandmother - my father's mother. But God is good is He not? Because that baby was such - and continues to be - so very special to my father. I can't believe that there is another grandfather out there that loves their granddaughter any more than my father loves Brandi Lee. I can't begin to imagine how he felt that day... I know Brandi didn't "replace" my grandmother for my father but she sure did help fill that void in his heart.

So, today we celebrate my wee one. My little schtoogy. My greatest accomplishment. That which I love more than life itself. My little ray of sunshine. My little woman. My Bran...
I can physically FEEL the love I have for this child. I'm sure you moms know EXACTLY what I'm talking about.

"God sent children for another purpose than merely to keep up the race - to enlarge our hearts; and to make us unselfish and full of kindly sympathies and affections; to give our souls higher aims; to call out all our faculties to extended enterprise and exertion; and to sing round our firesides bright faces, happy smiles and loving, tender hearts" - Mary Botham Howitt

"The beginning is scary, the end is sometimes sad but it's the middle that counts and is so exciting" - Hope Floats

Happy Birthday my sweet Bran...I'm so thankful that I'm YOUR mom...

My cup runneth over