Life is a journey as we've all been told our whole lives. Active Rain is a journey as well, and it becomes whatever we choose to make it for ourselves. My journey to 300,000 points has been full of all kinds of things! Sort of like the journeys the Flat Active Rain Dudes took all over the country - remember those fun posts?? ;-)
I joined Active Rain back in July 2006, and I think there were barely 4,000 members back then. I had no idea what this place was nor any notion of what it could be or what to do now that I had joined. Maybe I was lucky enough to set up a profile then, but I sure didn't write any posts back then. I remember coming back some time later on, did some reading, got up the nerve to leave a comment here and there, and finally that September, I put up my first post. I was nervous as all get-out. I got one comment from back then, and then a jokester showed up a year later and left me a comment. And then another friend stopped by....
And from then on, I began dipping into the posting and commenting waters of AR. Oh yeah, I made a few mistakes, the biggest one was leaving my website links after my comments. But I tried to rectify that by apologizing for committing the cardinal sin of 'blogging spam'. Back then, to help us figure out something to write about, someone at AR would put out topics, "Blog Topic #3, Blog Topic #5, etc.", that some of us would then write about. Guess we're all beyond that now, huh?
From July 2006 through today, I've made so many awesome friends, and you all mean so much to me. What a journey we've been on together, huh? So many fun meet-ups, all the great phone calls and emails. Celebration Gathering, Asheville Meet-Up, Portsmouth On the Docks Meet-Up, Clermont Florida Meet-Up, Cape Coral Gathering, and Orlando AR Hard Rock Party - so many terrific people that I got to meet there at NAR Convention. And I know I'll be meeting even more from this great community during this year, too. San Diego in November should be great fun, and maybe even Washington DC in May.
You know, I've said to several people I've talked with here on AR, being here and sharing as we do, you really could never go to another seminar or conference or convention for educational classes because you can learn so much right here. You can get information quicker and usually much more pertinent to our own businesses just by reading and networking with other AR members. I know the amount of things I've learned since joining here far surpasses 3 years of seminars, etc. outside AR that I might have gone to.
I've learned so much about blogging in general - remember the book reviews a group of us did a year or so ago? Those were fun and what a great learning experience we went through. Some of those posts continue to be read and commented on even today. And great friendships came about through those reviews, too.
Newspaper and magazine writers have found me on AR, and I know others have had the same types of experiences. I've even had relatives find me that I never knew I had - how cool is that??!?!?!?
We've shared lots of good times together, as well as some tearful and excruciatingly painful and sad times, too. I can't begin to convey to all of you how very much your cards, emails, phone calls, flowers, gifts and tokens of friendship have meant to me while I've been dealing with the loss of Bear, the love of my life. He was my world, my best friend and business partner and so much more than simple words can convey.
Thank you for continuing to keep me in your thoughts and prayers.
Just a few short years ago, none of us could possibly have imagined our world being full of virtual friendships that would come to mean so very much to us. As a friend to many of us penned, "friends that live in our computers" have come to be very close friends, sometimes even closer friends than friends in our 'real' worlds. Some of you I've known for years from other networks, back before there was such a thing as "Active Rain".
So, as was pointed out to me on New Year's Day, I slipped past that 300,000 point milestone on New Year's Eve, as a new year was beginning. Who knows what 2009 will bring me, what it will bring us, but I hope it's some good things, a lot more learning and sharing, and some more fun and great friendships for all of us.
Thank you all for being part of my journey for the last 2 1/2 years, and I hope we continue journeying forward together for a long time to come.
Copyright 2009 - Ann Cummings - All Rights Reserved.
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There are a lot of links in this post, and I hope you'll check them out! Lots of fun posts included in those, and a lot of wonderful memories included in them as well.
Thanks for reading, and for your friendship!
Ann