Hey Bro (s)

In answer to your question:
 

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Apparently I'm a "Pippin".

Not only am I a Pippin but, according to the almost 12 year old who named me, I am an Alpha Pippin, no less!

I'm such an Alpha Pippin, in fact, that the 12 year old has totally discarded my actual name and now simply calls me Pippin.

In turn, he has become "Nugget". To me.

This has happened organically on our travels together, which have now (naturally) been given the official title of:

"The Adventures of Pippin and Nugget".

I'm not entirely sure why I was given the honor of being mentioned first in this title, but I suspect it has something to do with age coming before beauty.

Regardless, I've accepted it graciously.

And gleefully.

The interesting part of all of this, is that Nathan came up with my new name (mysteriously) on his own.

"Pippin" was the term of affection used by my grandpa, when I took care of him at times, and the wall he held solid around him crumbled just enough for him to allow some affection to slip through the cracks.

In all honesty, he had Parkinson's in his later years and mostly confused me with his youngest daughter. My aunt was the original bearer of this marvelous name. But since I was often the only one he would allow to help him, probably because I was so casual and matter of fact about it that he could avoid feeling as though he was being helped, I took his term of endearment more as a sentiment than an actual name.

In 2023, more than 15 years after his passing, I now somehow find myself a Pippin again. Despite there being no clear link between grandpa and Nathan or a memory of sharing this term with Bert's great grandson.

Perhaps I did.

Or perhaps this came to Nathan via the internet of amazing things (which he spends too much time on already).

Who knows again?

But it does beg the question:

What the actual fuck is a Pippin anyway?

I never did ask grandpa, you know.

He was a Lancashire man and had some colorful sayings that I just took as quirky Northern heritage.

At mealtimes, on the days he was feeling upbeat, he'd quip:

"Amen, straw women and Indian rubber pigs." in a delightfully broad accent. He'd grin cheekily as he said it, with a rare twinkle in his eye.

Perhaps his way of giving thanks for what we were about to receive. Perhaps his rebellious nature standing some final ground. I didn't know him well enough to be able to say.

Mostly he was a figure in the background who shuffled around silently and slightly out of focus.

It was always my grandmother who led the family, supported carrying our traditions forward and kept us together in the moments we bickered or quarreled.

She shared many great sayings and philosophies as she did this throughout the years.

It was quite marvelous how profound the effect was, when she sternly (but ever so gently) murmured them.

If we were arguing and things were getting ugly, for example, all she had to say was "Little birds. Little birds in their nests."

Or even just "Little birds."

It was enough to make us stop and get over ourselves immediately.

There was sound philosophy behind each one of her sayings, you see. And this would have been shared by her, as an approach to the world, with each family member at some point.

This particular statement was about strength in unity. That family comes first. That the bigger picture, and the good of the whole, always outweighs a personal issue.

Our family has gone through its trials and tribulations. But we always come back to each other no matter how badly we've behaved. And fuck have we behaved badly as individuals at times. Family is family and we have each other's backs no matter what.

Priceless.

As is the wealth of wisdom behind this perspective when it's taken into a broader concept of community and, following this, a society.

She had many, many great sayings like this. My grandmother. Most of which I came to understand, many years later, as perspectives taken from the Buddhist philosophy she'd obviously grown up with in her own family.

But where the term Pippin came from, I never did find out.

Nor what a Pippin actually is.

I do, however, know what it means to be a Pippin in 2023.

Nathan and I have defined what a Pippin and a Nugget are in the course of our Adventures of Pippin and Nugget. Probably because it was during these marvelous and also challenging times that we came to know better, ourselves, who we are as people.

But I guess this is what happens during all great adventures.

If they're done consciously and "woke".

It's mostly when we're cast out of our comfort zones that we get to know who we truly are, in my experience. It's easy to tell people who you think you are. Or who you wish you could be. But it's only during moments of high stress, when difficult choices often present themselves as possible solutions, that you really do see what your authentic principles and values are. Or beliefs.

And how important they truly are to you.

So what is a Pippin in 2023?

In a nutshell:

A Pippin's natural habitat is in the wild.

And a Pippin needs to be free.

Nathan has also shared his method on "How to train your Pippin" with me. More than once, although even during what seem like repeated revisions the method has remained pretty much the same. One thing I am, apparently, is consistent.

I'm not about to share how to train your Pippin on social media, however.

Suffice to say it includes feeding your Pippin cookies and letting it take afternoon naps.

More than this I will never divulge.

"All that glitters is not gold"

"Pearls of wisdom"

"Wealth of wisdom"

The Buddhists also speak of enlightenment as "the diamond mind".
 

Diamond Mind is an enlightened state of mind. Its qualities are brilliant clarity, laser focus and abundant energy. Like a perfectly cut diamond, it is luminous and strong. We all have a seed of diamond mind, but most people rarely, if ever, experience it. ^{Original source}

I don't think it's possible to achieve real wealth without wisdom.

And although most of you who read me regularly will know that I'd go straight to the conversation about what true wealth is and that we should be redefining success because fucking Capitalism and treadmills and rigged systems and wasted lives...

I'll keep this to an actual conversation about monetary wealth since this prompt was about this and the interest of this community is aimed at this as well.

I would take a job that afforded me more wisdom than financial gain any day.

And I'm not talking about textbook bullshit here. That's not wisdom. That's someone else's opinion until you've tried and tested it yourself. So I don't mean the textbook kind of wisdom at all.

I mean actual wisdom as in these are "truths" kinda wisdom.

I've lost more money; been less focused and productive on growing my own shit; and have wasted more valuable time because of naivety and my own avoidance of truth than anything else. Mostly because of not knowing myself, as it turned out.

If I'd know what I know now, back in my twenties, I'd probably be a millionaire. And already retired.

In fact, I would be both of these things.

The ability to see truth (actual wisdom) will get you richer (faster) than anything else, I reckon. Because focus, clarity, sound decisions and the ability to keep yourself in your most prime state to achieve.

Of course, I've already abandoned a better paying job for personal freedom, precious time and more soul food (a job that I "love")...

so my answer (and my actual truth) are already obvious in both my behavior and actions.

It always is.

Which could have saved you seven valuable minutes of reading all this talky talk.

Yeah. I already answered this question some time ago in action.

Because I know who I am now.

And Pippins need to be free.

_{The original Alpha (Tubby) Nugget}