(LifeSiteNews) — Car company Chevrolet launched its Christmas ad campaign with a beautiful commercial that highlights the messiness of raising kids while championing the value of having a family.
The ad, titled “Memory Lane,” shows a middle-aged married couple loading up their decades-old Chevy Suburban with food to head off to a family dinner. At this point, the ad switches between the couple in the present day and grainy, recorder-quality video of family memories.
It begins with a young family, including a baby, loading up into the same car. As the couple begins to drive, the wife and mom is reminiscing. The husband asks her not to “keep all the good stuff” to herself.
From there, the ad reflects on the ups and downs of the family’s life, including memories of mistakenly tying a Christmas tree to the car door and comforting their college-aged daughter about a break-up. As the couple pulls up to a house at the end of their trip, the wife turns to her husband and says: “They never made it easy, did they?”
“Did you want it to be easy?” he replies.
“No, I wanted it to be just like it was,” she says, before they exit the car to meet family, including a grandchild and a new dog that looks like their old dog.
“The greatest journey is the one we take together,” the ad ends.
Commercial accurately portrays that family life isn’t easy, but it is fun
Anyone who has kids knows that it is not always easy raising them, but it is enjoyable. They scream, they cause messes, they wake you up in the middle of the night. And that’s just before they turn five years old. It only gets more enjoyable, and more difficult, as they age (from what I can tell).
Even if you do not have kids, you can probably remember your own life and think about the ways you caused your parents headaches (getting a bad grade in a class or breaking the curfew), but also the ways you brought them joy (graduating from college, joining the military, or getting married).
The truth is that families are messy, and no one is guaranteed an easy life. But the important thing is to persevere by sticking together.
Another thing that stuck out is that both parents remained married throughout their life and are celebrating Christmas with both of their children.
One of the kids did not avoid Christmas because dad voted for Trump or because mom has strongly held religious beliefs – something that does happen to the glee (and detriment) of leftist writers. The entire family, not just those who perfectly agree with each other, were together for the holidays. In fact, this is one way we honor our father and mother, by getting together over the holidays and at other family gatherings.
As a parent myself, I sometimes wish it would be “easy,” but the truth is the ups and downs are what make it enjoyable.
Thank you to Chevy for reminding me, and other parents, of this lesson.
