Split-pea soup: worth giving up your inheritance

I made a soup I was proud of on Monday and shared some of it with one of our neighbors to thank him for surprising us by shoveling our driveway on Saturday morning. Let's start with the recipe, so this post does not become anti-climactic.

Split-Pea and Vegetable Soup with Turkey Sausage
serves 6 to 8

1 pound turkey sausage (note, not just ground turkey, and not sausages in casings)
3 carrots, chopped
3 celery ribs, sliced
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cups yellow split peas (actually, in my soup it was channa dal, which are split black chickpeas)
8 cups water
1 tsp dried rosemary leaves
garlic salt, black pepper and paprika to taste

Brown sausage in a few tablespoons of mildly flavored oil. Add in the vegetables and sweat until onions start to look translucent. Add all other ingredients, cover, and bring to a boil. When boiling, turn down the heat and simmer until split peas are tender and at least some are breaking apart when soup is stirred. Eat some, store some in the refrigerator for later, and share some with a friend or neighbor.

Today, our neighbor returned the container in which I'd delivered the soup, with a card attached that read:

There's a Bible story that says Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. If the soup tasted this good, I can understand why.