Goodbye
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
April,
Again I want to just say I admire you more than you can ever know. Your commitment to simplicity is one of the things I admired in you from the first time I first met you.
I will miss the blog immensely as it gave me a peak into a woman’s life I admire. I will honor your need to discontinue and hope that we stay in touch in real time and not just on the computer.
Blessings on you and your family, I have learned much in the weeks of Grandma was Green and I too plan to use the lessons to improve my life and that of generations to come.
Karen
April,
But don’t feel guilty about using the dryer if it’s raining or you just don’t have time. 
)
Feel free to drop a post on here any time you feel like sharing something with the world at large, even if it’s only once in the next few months. I at least will keep you in my blog reader at least until the year is finished. 
Feel free to drop me an email any time, as well. I love thinking about and sharing my remembrances of my grandparents. 
Thank you for getting me thinking about them again. 
Thank you for sharing the beginning of your journey with us. It is refreshing to know that there are others out there who appreciate the older ways of living. I hope that you will continue to experiment with the approaches to life that our grandparents used, but know that you don’t have to commit to using each of them every time. (Like laundry - hanging up and taking down and ironing full loads of laundry is very peaceful and gives lots of time to think - great for times when you need the peace of the monks again but cannot go visit the monastery.
Good luck with your changes and with staying not-busy.
–Debbie
Courageous move April. I’m honored to be on this journey with you.
I’m looking forward with you, April, as you make this shift but continue to integrate these values into your life in reflective and purposeful ways. I continue to learn so much from you and from our friendship…
Courageous indeed. Blessings, blessings, blessings as you continue to reflect and live intentionally. It’s an honor to call you a friend! Thanks for the skype date today…you have no idea how much it means to me!
Thank you for sharing your adventures, successes, and struggles with us. I have learned so much and while mostly a lurker have felt support and encouragement for the changes I am implementing in my own life. While I am sad that you will not be blogging any more, I have so much respect for you in setting limits for you and your life. I share the struggle in trying to maintain balance in life and balance my commitments to others and myself. Wishing you the best as you consider the journey toward sustainability, slowness, and simplicity!
Thank you so much! This has been a wonderful experience. I have learned much and enjoy my now much simpler life. It’s about to get more hectic than I’d like it too though as my husband arrives back in the states from deployment and starts college. I need to get a job and that will take me away from my babies. I will be starting a two week course to become a nurse’s aid. It’s only temporary but it saddens me as well. I love being home with my babies and I love taking care of the house and doing the laundry and dishes. It is necessary though until he is done with college and I’m sure that in the end I will love my career too! Thank you for all you’ve done for me!
April - God continues to use you in ways that none of us understand or completely comprehend. I praise you for your tenacity to get started and your courage to stop. Those are both attributes of a person that are noble and right.
Blessings to you my sister and friend.
Phil
I guess this is your next Grandma challenge: Grandma didn’t write a blog.
I know from doing my blog that documenting something is much more time consuming than just doing the thing. I’m happy for you that you’re making hard choices like this, and deciding that your time, and your family, are more important than a bunch of people on the internet. Good luck.
April–
I will miss this, miss you–your insights and thoughts, struggles and honesty. Thank you for the time and effort that you gave to this part of the project, for your inspiration and ultimately, your commitment to your own call to simplicity. Blessings to you in what ever is next.
Much love,
Sammy
Thank you for starting this journey for all the world to see. As others have said it was great for my heart to read comments from you and others who are trying to rethink the how’s and why’s of the doing aspects of our lives. It is nice to know that others think the same why and ponder the same topics. Good luck to you!!!
Thank you for sharing the way you did with strangers across the country like me. We have the illusion of living in a smaller world with all our online connections - when in fact the world is as big as it ever was in your Grandma’s time. I wish you well in all that you set your hand …. and all that you set your heart to - the relationships you hold dear and precious and personal.
I sympathize. I’ve struggled with the amount of time blogging takes. I enjoyed your blog and wish you the best as you continue your green journey!