Years ago, I was sitting in an airport in NYC drinking a martini when I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was @GordonGoner. We were catching different flights, headed in different directions, but we stood there talking for a bit. And at some point in that conversation, I remember telling him something I still think about today: I ride with BAYC all the way. Up, down, wherever this thing goes, I’m here for the entire ride. I didn’t say that because I thought Apes were going up. I didn’t say it because I expected anything in return. I said it because I meant it. The older I get, the more I realize that the journey is usually the most important part of the story. We all know how the @BoredApeYC story started. We know how quickly it grew and how much has changed along the way. Five years into this Club existing, BAYC probably means something a little different to every one of us. But I know what it means to me. I’ve been a collector for most of my life. When I was a kid, @seannana and I started with basketball cards. Simple pieces of cardboard with our favorite athletes printed on them. But to us, they were everything. We knew the players, the sets, the prices, the variations. We practically had the Beckett memorized. As the world changed, collecting changed with it. Eventually, those pieces of cardboard became digital collectibles. And in a world where technology moves faster every year, that evolution immediately made sense to me. But collecting an Ape was different. I remember watching @CryptoGarga and Gordon explain that one Ape represented one membership to the Bored Ape Yacht Club. BOOM. That was the moment it clicked. I wasn’t just collecting another thing. I was joining something. And over time, that became the part that mattered most. I found people who were into the same weird things I was into. I met people whose lives were completely different from mine, but who I found endlessly interesting. I traveled places, experienced things, and made friendships that almost certainly would have never existed without this Club. Sure, there have been perks along the way. But when I look back on the last five years, the biggest perk was the journey itself. It was the people I met. The places we went. The ridiculous moments. The wins, the losses, the ups, the downs, and all the stories in between. That’s why that conversation in the airport still sticks with me. When I said I was here for the entire ride, I didn’t know where that ride was going to take us. I still don’t. And maybe that’s the point. Five years later, I’m still here. Still collecting. Still meeting people. Still making memories. Still riding.