Being The Granola House Guest

Last week we once again traveled to the East Coast to see the fam.  We had a fantastic time – we arrived on a Friday to Pittsburgh where we joined my mom in preparing for a Sunday celebration.  The big event?  Pumpkin was to be baptized.  The preparations were not in vain as we had a wonderful ceremony and fantastic family affair to follow.  In the afterglow of that milestone event we spent a couple relaxing days with Nonna before jumping in the rental car to head to points further East.

After a five year hiatus from my college campus, we drove to State College PA where we introduced Pumpkin to the Nittany Lion.  He was, inexplicably, underwhelmed.  But I thought it was great.  Spouse was appeased by some Creamery ice cream and we all enjoyed a ‘Skellar lunch with Mayor Bloom and a leisurely visit and dinner with dear family friends.  The seven hour ride that remained to New Hampshire was long and we arrived well after midnight.  Less that ten years ago I would make crazy day long road trips like this and have energy yet to go out, get 3 hours sleep and do it again the next day.  Today that is not nearly the case.

Luckily Pumpkin sleeps like a champ in the car, so while his folks were a bit toasty on the edges Pumpkin was up for more family fun.  Which we had, in the form of birthday and graduation parties.  Since these affairs were held lake side in a cozy, casual cabin and at Spouse’s dad’s house all three days could easily be termed relaxing.

All in all it was a fantastic trip.  We saw family and friends.  We relaxed and enjoyed ourselves.  We celebrated milestones for Pumpkin and a few other family members.  We attended party after party…and here is where I want to ask the question: does it matter if we vacation from granola when we vacation?  After all we left our home where I can create a cocoon of green living and jumped into summer barbeques and other people’s homes.  The activist in me says ‘yes, it matters’ but the wife, daughter and house guest in me says ‘maybe it doesn’t.’

This has been a difficult post for me write – I am very grateful to family and friends who hosted us so graciously.  I am so thankful for this wonderful trip we had.  I am glad that we got to do it at all but I am especially grateful to Spouse’s and my immediate families for their hospitality, their gifts to Pumpkin as well as their gifts of time and energy to us and to our extended family for making our visit a priority in their already busy lives.  But on the scales between “granola” and “fast food”…well, we were in the drive through.

Here’s the thing, with the good fortune of having a raised consciousness of something comes the burden of a raised consciousness of something.  Like firemen seeing fire hazards everywhere or the theatre technician looking at the lighting not the show, as I learn more and more about living naturally, reducing chemical exposures and simplifying our lives, the more I see chemicals, waste and complexity.  I have become a killjoy for myself…how can I be true to my concerns about healthy living without being a killjoy for everyone else too?

When something is really important to you, like trying to live “green” is to me (but you could sub in religion, political views, breastfeeding, pretty much anything that invokes passion in people), when do you try to share that information and when do you let it go?  Criticizing something like using conventional cleaners or failing to recycle your plastic bottles would be petty and inconsiderate.  On the other hand, when the conversation allowed for talk about organic food or reducing our use of petroleum products I let no opportunity pass me by.  In both these ways I think a good example is being set for Pumpkin – be polite, be gracious, mind your business but speak honestly and live by example.

Because trying to be a granola family in a fast food world falls outside the mainstream popular culture – there are some challenges to face.  One of them is living up to our beliefs while maintaining our good manners.  In the end the people in our lives are the most important thing.  And while I don’t want toxins and waste to negatively impact any of our loved ones in the long term, I really don’t want to hurt them through criticism or harping in the short term.  That would just make me the toxin.  And that is no way to be granola.