Early Bird Arrivals, Thursday, Sept. 11th, 2025 Grand Rising Family, On Wednesday, Sept 10th, excitement was in the air as I traveled to the airport to pick up Holt and her son, CJ. It was happening; we would finally meet face-to-face, and this was becoming a reality of the days to come... Our ride to St. Augustine... We arrived in St. Augustine about 2:30 pm on Thursday the 11th; our first stop, of course, was food at a place called Sam's, which offered a variety of seafood. I had fried catfish, fried shrimp, red beans, and coleslaw; it was reasonably priced and tasteful. We were about 10 minutes from our destination. We checked into the Airbnb and got settled in. The next to arrive were Kween and Nikki "B." As each person arrived, the faces and voices began to match up, and in some cases you heard the voice and you knew exactly who it was, like Zandra and Tierra, who were the next to arrive, and the next day, Dee. It was amazing to see each person was real and was exactly as they presented themselves to be in the community. The connections are AMAZING, and we all felt like we had met before; the energy is real. St. Augustine... St. Augustine is a quaint town with an abundance of history, our history, and you felt that in your spirit, and it was welcoming... I actually had been there before for a wedding and a dinner but without knowing the history or venturing to find it. The people who had arrived early began checking in on Telegram, we met up, walked, talked, and toured together. I found the history was a gift itself. There wasn't anywhere you could go where you did not see a crest from on the ground etched in the bricks, on walls, on houses, on businesses, on flags, and yes, even on the police cars. Scan codes accommodated many of the crests, so if you wanted to know about a family or just have more info, all you had to do was scan it and it popped up. Just imagine being surrounded by like-minded people ALL THE TIME who inner-stood the power of structuring a trust and/or claimed and took care of their estate; it was very well INNERSTOOD and POWERFUL!!! There is importance in a crest. If you don't have one, purpose to get one; it tells who you are and shows you are in control and managing yourself privately in public. It was almost like na na, na na, na; you can see me right in your face, but you can't touch me, kind of feeling, and I dig that.