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Granny Was Right!

I think about my Granny often, but probably more so during the Holidays. Granny has been gone from us now for several years, yet as we gather for our traditional celebrations the memories of her are all around.

There was the Thanksgiving Day, watching the traditional Dallas Cowboy football game on TV when it began to snow in Dallas. Granny immediately declared that the astronauts were to blame! Sending men into space had disrupted the weather patterns years ago and that would explain snow in Texas.

Or playing a rousing game of dominoes and “catching” Granny cheating by going out of turn. When my brothers and I were really to blame as we sat there not making a play so Granny would assume it was her turn.

Or looking forward to Christmas because we knew that Granny would be making each family a “care package” of baked goodies. I can still taste those orange rolls! No one really even cared when, as she got older, she would forget an ingredient or two.

Or waiting (sometimes impatiently) as she veeeerrrrrryyyyy ssssssslllllloooooooowwwwwwlllllllllyyyyyyyy opened her gifts so that she would not tear the wrapping paper and then very meticulously folded the paper so it could be reused the following season (these days my mother has taken on this “tradition”).

Now Granny’s motivations might not have been trying to be green, or trying to save the planet, and the astronauts might not have caused the snow in Dallas (but I think there is little argument that mankind has had significant impact on the earth’s weather patterns). Granny grew up in a different time; a time when a simple game of dominoes was an evening’s entertainment; a time when, because of a very limited budget and a growing family, she would give baked goods in lieu of shopping for gifts; a time when during the depression and years following you learned not to waste a thing and reuse everything.

But, in her own way, Granny was right! Maybe the secret to sustainable living is learning from the past and adopting some of the same “simpler” approaches to life…Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

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