There's No Basement At The Alamo...

Perhaps I spend too much time in my head but come on; it’s a veritable fun house in there!  I’m not one of those deep-thinking, solving the problems of the world type in-my-head people.  I’m not even one of the morose, regret-filled in-my-head-types.  There’s just a bit of a party going on in there and it keeps me busy.  Everything I see or experience out here in the real world brings forth song lyrics, movie scenes or cartoon imagery of my own creation. 

I can’t help it.  It’s how I process the world.  Anyone who knows me well probably already knows this about me and politely avoids rolling their eyes at me as I throw some 80s movie reference on the table and expect them to know what I mean.  Thank you for humoring me.  I just happen to find insight in the silly.  Pee Wee Herman brings out sage lessons.

Remember, in PeeWee’s Big Adventure, the devastated look on PeeWee’s face after he at last arrived at the Alamo, suffered through Tina’s excruciating tour, and finally learned (amid laughter from the crowd) that there was no basement at the Alamo?

His journey to the Alamo was not an easy one.  He struggled, he fought, he ran and he persevered to get there because he had an important goal in mind.  He wanted…no – he NEEDED to get his bike back.  His bike meant everything.  It was his dream, it was stolen, and he wasn’t going to let anything get in his way to get it back.  Hence, the Big Adventure.

How many times have we all arrived at our own Alamo, only to learn that there is no basement?  That the thing that we are chasing isn’t there at all?  The signs may be present.  People may be trying to help us along the way.  Our very intuition may be screaming that we’re on the wrong track but if we’re so intensely focused on the one specific treasure that we think we’re after, we probably miss it.  And we miss so much along the way.

PeeWee, bless his heart, figured it out.  He met unexpected angels along the way: Large Marge, Simone, Mickey the escaped con and some rowdy bikers helped him move toward his ultimate goal.  He helped them, too.  He was so caught up in his own mission that he didn’t realize that saying” Everyone I know has a big But...? C'mon, Simone, let's talk about *your* big But.” was just what she needed to push her forward towards her own dreams.  Let that be a lesson to us all!  Don’t let your big But get in the way.  Face your big But and keep moving!

Likewise, obsessing over a goal (obsessing over anything, in fact) is the surest way to become tangled in the mess we so easily make in our heads.  As the wise Mr. Herman said, “The mind plays tricks on you. You play tricks back! It's like you're unraveling a big cable-knit sweater that someone keeps knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting...”  When you’re tangled up in the obsession, you can’t see the signs pointing you the right way down the path.

Thankfully, PeeWee and his beloved bike were reunited.  In the end, he came together with all of the loved ones who helped him, including those he shoved out-of-the-way, to watch the movie about his Big Adventure.  Occasional fun scenes aside, his focus was on those people instead of the screen.  He chatted with everyone, brought snacks to the prisoner, the bikers and Simone and walked off into the sunset (OK, into the silhouette on the drive-in screen) with Dottie.  When she asked him “Don't you wanna see the rest of the movie? “, PeeWee said “I don't have to see it, Dottie. I *lived* it.”

That’s kind of the point of it all, isn’t it?  It’s said that our lives replay in our minds before we leave this earth.  Maybe that’s the case.  If it is, I’m not interested in watching the whole damn movie, but wouldn’t mind a few popcorn moments with the people who shared the best scenes.

 

So perhaps I spend too much time in the funhouse in my head.  Like PeeWee, I have unlikely hero companions, I have the occasional Francis who’d like to steal my treasure, I’ve stumbled upon the Alamo only to come up empty, and I’ve done my own sort of big shoe dance to distract the focus of those who haven’t yet become a friend.  When it’s time for the screening of my life’s movie, I hope they cut the boring scenes and there’s a good soundtrack.  I’ll share the popcorn but I’ll probably cut out early so I can get started on the sequel.