My blow dryer broke last week.  I had another one for backup.  Actually, I had a third one I gave to my mother-in-law when her blow dryer broke.  I have no idea why I had three of them sitting around.  I tried to fix the broken dryer by unplugging it, plugging it back in and pushing the reset button on the outlet.  I also tried cleaning out the spongy piece that captures lint.  Nothing worked.

My husband’s cell phone also died last week.  It was a little over two years old.  When he brought it in to have it replaced the clerk said most phones do not last that long.  Apparently our cell phone company’s “new every two” program is not an option but a necessity because the phone was not designed to last that long anyway. 

It is a great marketing gimmick.  Get people dependent on your product but design the product to break so people will need to replace it every couple of years.  The other marketing scheme that seems to work well is to create enticing upgrades.  I just bought a new lap top computer but it doesn’t work with my “old” printer.  The printer is 5 years old and it does not recognize the operating system in my new lap top.

This is depressing because my house is filled with this kind of stuff.

Most of my stuff will not wind up in an antique store.  Most of it will end up in a land fill.  It was designed to break, and I don’t know how to fix it.  It often costs more to repair a product than to buy a new one.  My grandparents probably knew how to fix a lot of the things they owned.  My husband and I are handy but we do not know how to fix a hair dryer, a fridge, a cell phone, a dishwasher, or a coffee maker.  The list goes on and on.

I am glad only one thing usually breaks at a time.  But what happens when every one’s cell phone takes a turn at breaking?  Apparently 426,000 cells phones are “retired” in the US everyday.  Some cell phones are recycled.  But what about all of those broken hair dryers?  There isn’t a recycling program for those. 

My Grandma and Grandpa worked hard.  Their hands and feet were their most dependable tools for getting the job done.  They did not exercise because their bodies grew stronger with use, and when their hands and feet stopped working someone else stepped in to literally “lend a hand.”  I like that warranty policy.  What Would Grandma Use To Get The Job Done?

The link for the cell phone statistic will take you to www.chrisjordan.com.  Chris Jordan does amazing photo art depicting products of mass consumption.  His art leaves me speechless everytime I look at it.

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!