A Little Bit of the Griswolds in Us All

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” – 1 Timothy 6:6-8

I tend to spend a great deal of time thinking about the future, and I doubt that I’m in the minority. Every year of my 28-year teaching career, from the middle of August until the end of May, hardly a day went by that the specter of upcoming classes wasn’t on my mind. The rhythm of school life created a continuous anticipation, which often served as a mental escape from the daily grind.

Many jobs have similar demands and result in a preoccupation that is neither comfortable nor encouraging. The constant pressure and ongoing responsibilities lead many to dream of a future, a time or place that offers a break from present struggles. In the modern vernacular, we are going to “our happy place.”

Usually, when I returned to work in the blistering month of August, I thought about the joys of football season, cooler weather, and celebrating the holiday season with my family. In January, when all of that was in the past, the happy place became spring break on a cruise ship and, eventually, extended time off during the blessed summer break.

The Apostle Paul’s reminder about contentment deserves our attention. We often wish for a day or an event to be our escape, only to realize that the very things we thought would satisfy us are fleeting.

Last year at this time, we were on a vacation we had eagerly anticipated, but it fell short of the paradise we envisioned. Sleep was elusive, thanks to noisy kids who ran up and down the hallway outside our cabin in the middle of the night. The buffet we’d looked forward to all year was a disappointment, with long lines, lukewarm food, and a constant struggle to find an open table. High seas, driven by 40-knot winds, forced the closure of the outer decks, leaving passengers crammed into already crowded public spaces. Still, I know we will approach the next holiday with those same rose-colored glasses.

One reason the Vacation movies have proved to be so popular is that we can all relate to the experiences of the Griswold family. No, we might not have found ourselves taking a theme park security guard hostage with a BB gun or having a cousin empty a chemical toilet into a storm drain, but we can sympathize and laugh at their frustrations from a distance.

Walt Disney World is a fantastic family destination, but it’s easy to tell the families who just arrived from those that have been in the park for a week. Those families that marched through the gates with such joy and anticipation on Day 1 are, a few days later, reduced to reenacting the infamous Bataan Death March. They no longer remember why EPCOT is a must-see, but they are driven to make it through the World Showcase from Albania to Zambia.

In the epic novel Lonesome Dove, a young woman named Lorena has long dreamed of escaping her hot, miserable life in south Texas and heading to San Francisco. She has heard that it is a cool and comfortable town, but her dreams of that paradise are built entirely on stories she’s heard.

Older and wiser, her friend Gus, a seasoned Texas Ranger, tells her: “Lorie darlin’, life in San Francisco, you see, is still just life. If you want any one thing too badly, it’s likely to turn out to be a disappointment. The only healthy way to live life is to learn to like all the little everyday things, like a sip of good whiskey in the evening, a soft bed, a glass of buttermilk, or a feisty gentleman like myself.”

Gus’s advice serves as a reminder of the truth we often overlook. Maybe we all have a little bit of Clark Griswold in us and set standards that no experience can live up to. If that’s true, then we have even more reason to learn to like the everyday little things: savoring a quiet dinner with my beautiful wife of 40+ years, embarking on a quest for new discoveries in Costco, and sharing the laughter of our two grandsons, whose playful energy outshines any thrill ride at Walley World.