Do you ever get so used to doing something a certain way, that when you come across someone who does it differently, you're kind of blown out of the water?
I'm pretty sure that sentence makes sense to no one but me. Sometimes, it's hard to translate what I'm thinking into the written word. Stick with me.
Babydoll's Daddy had major surgery a couple weeks ago. I took time off work to be with our Babydoll, and his mom ("GG") came to town to "help" (yes, I intentionally put that word into quotes) while he was hospitalized. My friend, Andrea, recently challenged our mommy group to find the silver lining in shitty situations. I'm so grateful to her for that challenge, because it helped me put things into perspective during a very difficult, trying time. GG and I do not see eye to eye on most things. She is respectful to me, and I to her, but after two days, I've had my fill. BD is usually the buffer between us, but he was in the hospital for six long days. I really, really missed him. I knew that I relied on him for a lot, but I had no idea just how much until he was gone.
Anyhoo.
While GG stayed with us for that week, I realized over and over just how differently we live. I didn't think that our home was any more or less eco-friendly than other homes. I'm so used to how we run the Groovy Homestead, being mindful of water and power usage, recycling, reusing, reducing, etc. I was thrown for a loop when:
GG kept throwing her plastic water/soda bottles in the trash. I pointed out to her, a few times, that we have filtered water through the refrigerator - it's cold and it tastes good, so there's no need to use bottled water. I also reminded her, several times, that we recycle, and all she needed to do was place her bottles on the counter top, and I would take it from there. Yet every time, I opened the door to the trash, there was a heap of plastic bottles.
GG leaves the TV on, even if it's not being watched. Most of the time, she was knitting or reading or doing a puzzle, not watching it at all. I could see the power bill skyrocketing in my head. I asked her, a couple times, "What are you watching?" Her response: "Oh, I don't know. It's just background noise." (That's not true - she kept the volume so low, I couldn't hear anything.)
GG offered to clean BD's bathroom. Awesome! I told her that I use vinegar and baking soda when I clean, but that if she wanted to use something else (i.e. Clorox), to please wait until I had Babydoll out of the house, so she wouldn't be breathing in the fumes. GG balked at this, but a few days later, she asked me to show her what I use and how I use it. She was amazed at how simple it was and that it worked.
We went out to dinner one night to a local brewpub. I was familiar with the menu and I knew that there wasn't anything on it that A) Babydoll would eat and B) that I would want Babydoll to eat, so I brought her food with us. GG asked if Babydoll would eat a grilled cheese. I told her that she might (no guarantee) but that the cheese used is probably "processed American cheese food" (or whatever Kraft slices are called) and the bread is probably white bread. GG knows that we feed our kiddo mostly organic food and only foods that provide real nutrition, so it gave me the opportunity to have a real conversation with her about the benefits of healthier choices in our food. Her response: "Oh, if I put that much goodness in my stomach, my body just wouldn't know what to do!"
As she did during her last visit, she questioned my use of cloth diapers. I explained to her that no, they aren't a waste of money (because of the use of water and the washing machine), and that the chemicals used in today's disposable diapers are highly toxic. I showed her, once again, how easy it is to use modern cloth diapers (and how cute they are).
The silver lining to her visit was that she was able to be with BD at the hospital, while I kept Babydoll in her routine of story time and play group and toddler time during the day. We swapped places in the afternoons and Babydoll had a lot of fun with her grandmother, while I got a few quiet moments with BD. And it opened my eyes to the efforts we make in our home to (hopefully) make the world a nicer place for our child.
That's the true gift.
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