Miss Cherry, Atomic Bombs, and a Coconut Cream Pie

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But, as that 86-year-old Iron Nun said in my now favorite Nike ad…” Unlimited Youth” …” There are a lot of times when I had to think about failures and not reaching the goals I may have set for myself,” Buder said in a Nike video, “Then I realized the only failure is not to try because your effort in itself is a success.” A nun. A devoted, God fearing, God loving badass nun triathlete. She gets it.

Hard wiring.

That moment in an action film where the bomb squad is called in to disarm a nuclear bomb – let’s make it…

…set in the middle of Gotham…which will destroy mankind – or Gotham – which is – in DC Comics world - so key to mankind…

…let’s try this again…

Batman is in some deep dark hole with his back broken. The Wayne Mansion is toast, which freaks me out. Like when they blew up that absolutely amazing house in one of the Bourne movies – the one that the scientist was restoring. The three story with the fabulous staircase - hand hewn probably sometime in the 1800’s. But, now she can’t, because some assholes shot it up and then it was blown up as a cover for a getaway. Men. As if they couldn’t have just gone out the back door. That kind of crap keeps me up at night.

Anyway, the Wayne fortune is gone. The Batman beam thing is broken. The Bat phone is in a museum somewhere because it’s a rotary.

And, the bomb isn’t digital.

Yes, I know…just work with me here. It ISN’T smart. It can’t call an Uber for you – or track your moods like a mood ring.

It’s one of those crazy, thousands of wires, all of the colors of the rainbow…hard wired bombs. You open that compartment with mere minutes…seconds…to disarm…which in my mind…looks like a cartoon atomic bomb.

Wait. Let’s switch it up here.

Bugs Bunny has climbed into the door of an atomic bomb with his carrots…it says “Acme” on the side…because it is really there for the Roadrunner.

Anyway, Bugs Bunny is holding a pair of scissors, trimming his whiskers, cutting out snowflakes, singing and eating a carrot… “When the swallows come back to Capistrano, la da dee de dah de dah,” vicariously next to the red wire that says…” DON’T CUT…BIG BOOM!!!” …there is a knock on the bomb door…and in comes Batman

Bugs says…” Yes, may I help you?” as he has been cartoon slicing up vegetables – scissors and knives cutting stuff everywhere – all of it going into the pot. He then throws in a kitchen sink.

“I’m Batman””

So, of course, Bugs hands him a perfectly executed paper snowflake, tells him, “You should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque,” and shuts the door.

Batman is all serious. Knocks again. He is there for the bomb. The good people of Gotham must be saved.

“What’s up, Doc?” …Bugs asks, chewing on his carrot and cutting wires for dental floss.

Fast forward…it’s Looney Tunes meets DC Comics – so, Bugs is floating on a cloud playing a harp…swimming in the air…backstroking…sees St. Peter…heads on over to jack with him

Batman is pissed. I mean, what the Hell just happened.? No pun intended. Batman was there to avert disaster.

Which kind of sums it up how we work. Hardwiring. The two sides of our ego. Popping up out of a toaster, either under cooked or burned to a crisp. Yen to our Yang.

One that says…all is good, all is great, I am unaware. Autopilot. Rolling from one thing to the next. The other who is a serious badass, completely aware, there to input some serious sense into our reality. Knows better, expects better, knows what needs to happen, when it needs to happen and how to succeed.

When you open up that psyche of yours, and look around at all of the crazy wiring…there are trip wires, connectors, necessary and unnecessary…the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Miss Cherry knows there’s a bowl of spaghetti inside her noggin. Knows there is hard wiring which makes her a badass in so many amazing ways. Talent, personality, intelligence, heart…spirit…that special something. Knows that there are some wires buried deep that send off a signal at the wrong times. Sends off that ego which is there to strike fear in her heart, set up the caution tape, inject doubt. Sometimes things get framed up as a combination of both. Dark, dark humor and the ability to express it so well. Sometimes with perfect execution…sometimes not so much.

Aren’t we all this way?

And, when we ask our egos…” Why did you hit me in the face with a coconut cream pie?”

It will answer…” Because you were trying, you will succeed and you like cream pie.”

Wear that mess across your face like a badge of honor.

Rinse and repeat…” It’s my ego, I’ve chosen to embrace it and I’m going to take that left at Albuquerque. I’m Batman. “

And, maybe someday Nike will create an ad about you. You are amazing.

That’s all Folks.