I like this analogy a lot! I still want a solution that doesn't require learning these things, but until we have that, this is a great way to explain it.
This got me thinking, I bet a similar approach could be taken with lightning channels. It's like opening a tab at the bar. You can spend your money on food & drinks, and only get charged once.
If you wanted to sell your homemade moonshine to the bar, they could either pay you each time you deliver (akin to on-chain payments), or they could open up a tab with you (lightning channel) and settle whenever you want (close the channel).
If your both buying from and selling to the bar, both your tab and theirs could go up and down and may be open for a long time.