The Journey to the Green Kingdom–How did I Get Here???

Photo by Az~Kate, used by permission under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license

Do you ever get up in the morning, and know you need to take care of something? Last night, I was on some people’s blogs and admiring how I was able to get to know them through their posts. It was so easy for them to let their readers into their lives. I felt like I was listening to an old friend tell me a story.

So, I started to read the sections of their blogs to learn more about the authors of the different blogs. My favorite About pages were the ones that were personal.  So, I questioned my own blog. Do people understand why I am writing this blog? Do my readers feel that they know me? Have I become an old friend to them?  Does my own About page tell my story?

I knew the answer.  My About page only tells you why I started Green Talk but nothing about how I got to this green station in my life. I decided simply telling you that I built a green house and wishing to help others was just not good enough. I want my readers to know the why. So I decided to dish.

My story is not as exciting as the Brad/Jen/Angelina triangle or as sexy as Dr. Christian Troy of Nip/Tuck (go ahead and click on the link and you will see why I mention “Dr Troy”)

How did I become so green?

I was a practicing lawyer until I could not longer balance work and motherhood. The Law just did not seem as interesting as the three little minds that I had at home. Then came my fourth child (all boys) and life was spent on the soccer field, in my dirty car, and at the playgrounds. Ida at the drive through at Burger King became my best friend. She even knew my voice when I ordered. (How many of you can relate??)

During their early school years, I was confronted with each of their learning disabilities and became absorbed into finding the right therapies to help them. It started to become my identity.

Then we moved into a house that had a lot of its own unique issues. Its energy bills were high, I could not go up into the attic without coughing, drafts that came out of nowhere and so on and so on. This house was my education into the building world. Without it, I would never have learned how to build green. I thank it for giving me this experience even though at the time I hated this house for a long time. It was a gift in the weirdest way.

See, I am the type of person that has to fix things. I was a born fixer and this house was my project. I started looking into all these solutions to fix this house. It was my springboard to building energy efficient and sustainable. I started keeping a notebook of products that I liked. It was thick. I started talking the talk. Not many people did at the time.

After six years, we decided to stop renovating this house, and we started looking for land to build. I was determined to build a healthy home for my children. No more nose bleeds, coughing, and viruses that ran through the house. Could the building products that surrounded them have caused their allergies and learning issues? I was convinced they did.

Well, we built this new wonderful house despite many subcontractors and vendors shaking their heads at me and saying that product is not what you want. I loved every minute of the building process, and would do it again given the chance. Unfortunately, my family would leave me if we built again

Building was not without its challenges and struggles. Every caulk, primer, etc. had to be chosen by me. I did not have the help that is available today. Just the internet and books.

Just to give you an example how crazy we were (my husband would tell you it was all my craziness), the plumbing primer had to be low toxic, all construction adhesive were nontoxic, and even the fireproof caulk had to be nontoxic. My contractor relied on me to find these products. His patience and understanding was greatly appreciated. He never tried to talk me out of my decisions and flowed with whatever I wanted as long as I could find it timely.

I was regrettably talked out of some things I wanted to do (i.e. a rain harvesting system) but am still scheming on how I am going to do install it now. This new house has moved me from just building green to places I would never have dreamed of. I have become passionate about recycling, energy, and organic gardening. I am still evolving, and I am still working on this house.

As for my children, I hope that this new green house is making their lives better. I also hope they will take what they learned from me about the environment and use it as they become adults in the world. Only if I could get them to turn the lights off when they leave a room or remember not to throw plastic bottles in the trash can.

So now you know how Green Talk came into being. Here’s what I need you to do:

• Happy reading.
•  Post a comment or question, I love hearing from everyone except spammers.
• Let me know what you would like to see on the site. ANYTHING! It can be lonely in the big world of blogging. (*sign*)
• Get involved on the site.  Green Talk is community.

I hope by revealing a part of me today that we can become like old friends.  With old friends, I hope you will visit often and let me know about your journey.  Is this what friends are for?

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