Before I get to the question of the day, I want to say I had a hunch about what would be required for me to live like Grandma.  Your stories have confirmed my hunch.  A life that is sustainable and simple is birthed out of a particular mindset.  My Grandma had that mindset and it sounds like many of yours did as well.  I plan to make some signicant changes in my everyday reality but will have to make some internal shifts as well if I want these changes to last.  I can do all of the reading I want on the topics of sustainability and simplicity but my life will not change until I adopt my Grandma’s mindset.  Keep your stories coming because each one of them illustrates a piece of that mindset.  These stories are the heart of My Grandma Was Green.

What Would Grandma Use To Get Around?  At first I did not think this would be a very exciting question to ask but after I spent $73.49 to fill the tank of my minivan with gas this morning, I realized this is probably one of the most important questions to ask in the What Would Grandma Do? challenge!  Remember the cartoon the Flintstones where everyone got around in cars powered by their own feet?  I wish I could say I depended on something with Flintstonian technology but instead I can’t live without my gas guzzling, 15 miles to a gallon, pink-colored, Ford Windstar minivan.  My husband rode his bike for three years, but due to the location of his job he is now dependent on our white Hyundai Accent.  The car originally belonged to his parents who bought it with the intention of converting it to run on vegetable oil but for now it guzzles gas almost as fast as our van. 

I used to have a bike I could use with our bike carrier for the kids but my bike was stolen last year and has yet to be replaced.  My husband’s bike usually sits in the garage gathering dust except for the occasional bike ride with the kids.  On the other hand, my boys race their bikes up and down the sidewalk all day long.  It has been my intention to follow their lead and ride to the Farmer’s Market just a few miles away but managing three kids on a bike ride is an intimidating hurdle.  When school is in session, I occasionally walk with a friend to pick up our kids but trying to steer 4 energetic boys and 2 babies toward home can be a challenging process.  Although I live in an urban setting, a lot of the places I frequent have moved out of the core city and are inaccessible by bike or foot.  I have never attempted to use the public transportation system in Grand Rapids.  Yes, my life is dominated by my minivan.

Is there a better way? What Would Grandma Use To Get Around?  Both sets of my grandparents had 6 or more children.  I doubt they tried to “get around” nearly as much as I do.  I am sure home was the center of their world.  Contrast this with my life where most days I seem to belong anywhere but home and even if I am home I am often managing the world “out there” more than being present to what is going on right in front of me.  I am not convinced this is a good thing.

In yesterday’s post you answered, How Would Grandma Bathe?  There was a very common thread to all of you answers - Grandma did not bathe as frequently as we do today!  Grandma was conservative in her use of water whereas I tend to use it like I have a personal pipeline to the Great Lakes.  Grandma also knew some natural beauty tricks that have been lost on us today and she used her hand soap until the last speck was gone.  I recently told someone I was considering switching to hand soap to save on packaging to which they replied, “Eww!  Hand soap gets gross and sticky.”  I can’t imagine what people will think if I consider bathing less!  And despite my commitment to a personal sense of style, your stories made it clear this was not a multi-billion dollar business back in Grandma’s day.  I am pretty convinced I can learn a thing or two from Grandma and still smell good enough to keep my friends!

Note:  Apparently internet technology and severe weather do not mix well which explains why I posted this so late in the day.  I am going off line for the holiday weekend but will return on Monday with What Would Grandma Use To Get It Done?  Please feel free to post on any of the previous questions in the What Would Grandma Do? challenge.

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!