As part of my two week break from blogging, I spent three days at a monastery called, St. Gregory’s Abbey in Three Rivers, Michigan.  There is almost no quieter place on earth than spending time in the company of monks.

It was just what I needed.

From the moment I arrived until the minute I left, I found myself pondering one thing - the fact that my life has grown too noisy (again).  I knew very little about the blogging world prior to starting my own and while this has been a deeply satisfying journey, it does not fit well into the other parts of my life.

And so it is with a true sense of sadness that I have decided to close down My Grandma Was Green. 

I have struggled with this decision because on the surface it seems my reason is as simple as my life has grown too busy and full.  And in the American culture where a full schedule is praised, personal busyness hardly seems a reason to step away from something.  However, I have discovered that busyness can be and often has been a source of disconnectedness and pain in my life.  Consequently, busyness hardly lends itself to creating a more sustainable and simple lifestyle.

I never took time to define the word sustainability while writing my blog but I think I have started to form a working definition for my own life.  I believe living sustainably means taking only that which I need to live a meaningful, generous and connected life. 

In order to do this I need to be diligent in learning how to distinguish between wants and needs - no small feat in a culture that is saturated with advertising aimed at turning every single thing into a need!  I realize my definition is somewhat ambiguous because the words meaningful, generous and connected can be defined in a variety of ways.  However, when I view sustainability in this context, it puts me on a path of wanting to take less and give more.  It breaks down the walls of my everyday, ordinary life and forces me to consider the well-being of others in each decision I make.

I seem to have a passion for “s” words such as simplicity and slowness.  I am now committed to moving forward in my journey with another “s” word to pursue - sustainability.  Each of these words is connected in so many ways but the tie that binds them together for me is relationships.  I believe I can pursue deeper and more meaningful relationships with self, God, my family, friends, neighbors, community and the world if I commit myself to simplicity, slowness and also sustainability. 

Therefore, I am going to persist with the changes I have made and I will continue to make more changes in the future.  Only now I will have to record my journey in the old-fashioned way - in the pages of my journal, through conversations with friends and family and in the quiet moments of my days.

I am not sure which part of this short journey has been the most important - recommitting myself to a slower pace, my growing awareness of important changes I need to make toward a more sustainable lifestyle, or reconnecting with my grandparents and my own history.  I guess each one is important in its own way.

If you are interested in learning from and connecting to your grandparents or any older person who is significant to you and/or learning about sustainability by looking to the past, I would encourage you to make use of the extensive questionnaire developed by Virginia Allee called, A Family History Questionnaire.  It proved to be an invaluable resource in asking my grandparents to share their story.  I trust you will find the same.

Thank you for all of your support in this endeavor.  I have learned a lot and will continue to be inspired by the stories I have read and by those individuals who are making great changes through the blogging world.

Goodbye for now,
April

Today is an anniversary of sorts for My Grandma Was Green.  I have been writing this blog for exactly three months and have managed to see my way through twelve Grandma Challenges. 

It is time for me to pause.

The chair in the picture is my favorite reading chair.  It is tucked into a corner in my living room next to a table with a lamp.  I love to sit in this chair at night when the house is quiet and my kids are in bed.  It is a precious moment of the day when I can read, reflect and rest.

I have not been able to sit in my favorite chair nearly as much since starting My Grandma Was Green.  I am okay with that since I knew this would be a season of action.  However, I do feel the need to take a little break in order to rest, regroup and reflect on what I have learned so far.

Stay tuned for for my next post on Tuesday, October 7.  I will share some of my reflections and return with a new set of Grandma Challenges as well as some updates on the ones I have already implemented. 

In the meantime, please continue to collect your best “grandma” stories and dig around in the archives if you are new to my site.  Although I am taking a little break, feel free to leave a comment or drop me a note at april@mygrandmwasgreen.com  I will still check my site and take time to respond to your comments and stories!

I was at a fun little street fair today.  Tucked in amongst the various art and jewelry booths were a variety of new and used clothing booths.  I spotted a funky little pair of cowboy boots at a booth showcasing goods from a local resale shop called Imagination Creations.  They were only $25.00 and I would have bought them had they not been a half size too small.

Instead, I found myself explaining my blog to Heather, the owner of Imagination Creations.  She kindly gave me permission to take a picture of the boots.  Looking at them from this angle, one could say there is a fine line between funky and ugly.  It would not have been the first purchase I have made because something looked cool perched in its given environment only to bring it home and discover that it looks totally out of place in my real life.

Although I still think the boots qualify as funky, I have come up with a terrific Grandma Challenge that will prevent me from making any mistaken fashion purchases in the near future.  I am going to commit to not buying any new clothes for the remainder of my “grandma” year which officially ends on June 23, 2009.  If it is going well, I am going to try to carry out this challenge for a full year from today which means it will not end until September 20, 2009.

In their younger years, my grandparents did not own nearly as many clothes as I do.  When discussing this issue with my Grandpa Fred, I asked him a series of questions trying to jog his memory about how much clothing he had when he was a young man at home.  I first asked if he had a dresser where he kept his clothing.  He said that he did not have a dresser of his own.  I asked if he had a closet or a wardrobe where he kept his clothes.  He said he did not have a closet or a wardrobe either.  Apparently there was only one closet in his childhood home and he was pretty sure it was used by his six sisters.  After pausing for a moment, he recalled a chair he kept next to his bed, and it dawned on him that he kept all of his clean clothes neatly folded on top of that chair.  At this point in the conversation my Grandpa got a twinkle in his eye as he teased that I would probably need a couch next to my bed to hold all of my clothes.

In light of my Grandpa’s “couch” comment, I decided to count the clothes hanging in my closet.  I currently have 54 shirts, 14 sweaters, 6 dresses, and 12 pairs of pants.  Those do not include the summer clothes I just put away now that cooler weather is here.  My Grandpa was right - I would need a very large couch to hold all of my clothes!  Make that two as my husband would probably need a couch of his own.

I think a big part of living sustainably is learning to distinguish between a need and a want.  Evaluating my clothing is a great opportunity to do just that.  I also have a hunch that all of the cheap clothing floating around in the marketplace (and my closet) is not made in the most sustainable way.  Stepping back from buying any new clothes for one year will give me time to become more informed about my clothing choices.

I am still trying to decide if I will include resale clothing in my challenge or not.  I could easily make a case for letting myself buy from resale shops because it does not create any additional human or environmental burden.  However, it seems I might be missing the point that I do not need any new or used clothes.

Are you willing to join me in this challenge?  Why or why not?  Do you have any stories to share from your own life?  How many items of clothing or outfits did your grandparents own in their younger years?  How many items of clothing do you currently own?