Years ago I was driving with two of my granddaughters past Top Golf, which is, if you are unfamiliar, an entertainment place you can hit golf balls, order delicious and fairly pricey food and beverage, and bond with your tribe. The girls had been to Top Golf and had a great time. As they were talking about how much fun it had been, the older one said, “but Nana, I wasn’t very good.” To which the younger, ever on top of any discussion, replied with some level of scorn, “you hit a ball off the balcony. It’s just not that hard.”
We laughing have used that incident to describe situations or decisions as Top Golf Moments: it’s just not that hard.
Recently, I’ve been thinking about that conversation from a different perspective. You see, my husband and I are having one of those long meandering multi-day conversations about contentment and what that means and looks like. It struck me our society encourages discontentment in so many ways. Here was our granddaughter acknowledging that she really had a great time at Top Golf but in the same moment lamenting that she wasn’t very good at hitting golf balls off a balcony. The discontentment caused by not excelling, by not winning, by not beating out everyone else, was overshadowing the fun she had being with her family and friends. It overshadowed pretzels and cheese and French Fries and Fanta Orange soda for pity’s sake!
How often do I lose the joy of the moment by comparison. By not being content with the fun of being with family and friends and eating junk food.
Not everything is a competition. There is space to be content even in a Top Golf Moment.
Just Sayin' 