Several weeks ago I reached two ActiveRain milestones: 50,000 points and 100 posts. I have been struggling about what to say to the now 62,615 members about my time here on AR.
Do I write about how much I learned about blogging and the fact that when I wrote my first post on 3/7/07 I didn't know how to upload pictures or embed links or videos or that there were groups, contests, features or points?
Or, that I did not have a clue what Carnac was talking about or who TLW...ROAR was and why people were writing about high school and an in-crowd and carnivals?
Or, that I did not know about SEO, keywords, or how to improve Google rankings?
Or, that I had never heard of Sellius, Technorati, Digg, MyBlogLog, Facebook, Trulia Voices let alone Twitter?
I found ActiveRain through an Inman News conference call about blogging. I decided that day to create my own blog and decided also to visit the site they all referred to as AR. My first post, on 3/3/07 was a very short rant about agents' egos and my second post (which was featured!) was a rant about a builder. I didn't write another post until 5/21 which was my first attempt at a sales analysis for my outside blog. (Quite embarrassing to look at now!).
Today, I have 64,625 points, this is my 103rd post, I am ranked #1 in my home town of Mooresville and County of Iredell and 11th in my wonderful state of North Carolina and I have had 9 featured posts and won one contest.
But this is not what has changed my life.
What I remember most is Laurie Manny spending 3 hours one night helping me with my RSSPIECES blog; TLW letting me know it's okay to become addicted to AR and teaching me the art of reciprocating which in turn led to myriad friendships; reuniting with my old friend William Johnson who is the model of kindness and professionalism; Karen George who took the time to personally change my tag line despite her illness; Ines for not just inspiring me but helping me as I created a logo and all new personal marketing materials, Neal Bloom asking me to do a Week in Review during which I discovered this incredible group of writers like Jason Sardi, Sarah Cooper, Lola Audu, Jennifer Bukaty, Andrew Lenza who rekindled my love of writing; a very talented group of ladies from all corners of North Carolina who are bonded together by our love for our state (one in particular who is teaching me how important it is to go green); a group of friends from as far away as Canada who share my love of pottery, and the overall sense of community and friendship at AR that defies geographic separations.
What has changed my life and for which I am most grateful, however, has almost nothing to do with ActiveRain. I have been so incredibly inspired by one saint of a women Rocky and her passion for helping the orphans of Africa and her indescribable selflessness and love of children. Thank you Jeff, for loving and caring so much about her passion to use your phenomenal technological knowledge and creative talents to find a way to share her mission with the world. It is an honor to be a new member of Mothers Fighting For Others and to be able to support Rocky's efforts in any way I can. Imagine if all 62,615 AR members would just help us find ways to support the Clean Water Project so that 3 orphanages will be able to drink safe water this year!
My heart is full. All I can say is:
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Diane, congratulations and thanks for sharing how far you have come here on Active Rain. Keep up the great work into the new year! All the best...