Meet the Griswolds

My best friend, Meg, made a startling comparison years back--that my dad is rather like Clark Griswold. And she was right!!! How many times has my dad taken on some kind of death march through the Minnesota "tree farm" to find the perfect Christmas tree? Remember: "She'll see it later, Clark. Her eyes are frozen" [National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation].

We have wacky family vacations with many car mishaps, we eat wacky food (this week it was fermented soybean paste from a Japan that looked like stringy cobwebby Rice Krispie treats but smelled like rotten road kill), we have loud, wacky family gatherings. People new to our family are often shocked at the volume level. The comparison between us and the Griswolds isn't necessarily direct, but it is recognizable. It is kind of a general "off-the-wall-ness" that pervades both our family and the original Griswolds.

Clark seems to make friends wherever he goes. He talks to people and asks them where he can find some really "good" local restaurants where he can find interesting and authentic foods. He asked many a taxi driver in Korea where he could find "Kay-gogi" but they all just pretended they didn't understand. They figured no American really wanted to eat Fido Fricasse. But they don't know Clark!

"Solly. I do not understand but I make you nice suit. Velly nice suit."

"Clark, dear. Put the chainsaw down and get in the car."

"But, Ellen!! I found us some dinner!"

"Let's just mix it with a little Vegemite [an Australian "spread" made from yeast products]!"

"Plus some goodies that Korean guy gave me"

"Yum! Dinner! Hey? Where did everybody go?"