(I'm also including some pictures and ecademy profile links of just a FEW of my favorite ecademists...Many of whom have invited me to come and visit!...and all of whom I fully intend to do exactly that, just as soon as I can swing it!)
It was during my time as a member on Ecademy
that I found some of the greatest and warmest most caring friends I will ever have on the internet. I am not exactly sure what makes it different, but I do know that it is. Very. And I'm not really sure what it is about it that makes it so different. 
You might ask ten people and get ten very different responses. Some will say that their rules are too rigid. Some will say that they censor. Maybe they do...and maybe they just protect what they know and love as the ground rules of a warm and loving family platform.
Now that I'm no longer a member and have, for the time being, lost the privlege or hope of rejoining my family there, I know what I miss. I miss being with my friends on ecademy.
Granted, I have to say that some of the changes that were being made when I was on the outs, and why I was on the outs...well maybe I'll go into that here, and...maybe that's a story for another day. We'll see. Anyway... what I was saying was that now, I miss it. I miss it dreadfully.
I really think about posting my blogs there and wish I could be. I knew people were reading my blogs there. I got feedback every day. often immediately. It was refreshing and exciting. I was fulfilled and delighted. I was passionate and excited. I loved being a member of the ecademy family.
I loved Thomas
and Penny, 
the chairman and founder. I loved their story of ecademy and how it came about. I loved watching their videos and the videos of other members and how they were succeeding in their work, whatever that may be. The videos made by ecademy members at ecademy functions were always endearing and entertaining. Since most of the members of ecademy, at least when I was a member, were predominantly from the UK and around Europe. As a result of my being so passionately in love with the platform and the people on it, I wrote blogs and I participated deeply and excitedly, every day! I made many friends. And...when I say friends, that is what I mean.
There is something deeply personal somehow, in how one connects with others on Ecademy. I don't know if it's still this way there, but it was a wonderful platform to feel like you actually were getting to know the real person. I have had so many wonderful ecademy friends come from off the platform and then...OFF THE PLANE! I've hosted them! Right here in New Orleans! And never once doubted that I wouldn't love each of them just as much Off the net as on! And I was precisely and perfectly right in every instance.
My friend Susan,
The same has held true for all five of the other ecademists that I have met in person, right here in New Orleans. Two of them have stayed in my home and the rest I met at the airport and chaperoned around this fair city, sharing with them what I love so much about it. They were all phenomenally wonderful and appreciative of this city and all of her gifts.
In another situation, I flew to New York City to meet quite a few ecademists at a luncheon. Yes, I flew to NYC to have lunch! One of my favorite ecademists was hosting the luncheon and several more of my most delightful friends and contacts off of the platform would be there. Wild horses couldn't have kept me away.
The luncheon was a huge success. My ecademy friends each, in turn, turned out to be even better and more engaging face to face. The luncheon turned into an all-evening-out-to-dinner-and-the-pubs kind of event. What a great night. What a great excursion!
These are three friends on ecademy with whom I feel as close as though I've known them right here in New Orleans. They are real friends. I know that if I needed them and called on them...they would offer me every kind of assistance and help they possibly could. They are real friends. Even though I've never met one of them in person, face to face.
I know this about each of them, just as I knew it about every other friend on ecademy that I have ever met face to face...and so far that's been only about 25 or so out of a few thousand. 
Now, I know that all those thousands wouldn't truly consider me a friend...especially since I've not been my wildly active and passionate self on there in recent days or recent months. But once I'm back up...and I do hope to be back up some day...I will return to establishing the same kinds of very strong friendships. 
Penny and Thomas have something wonderful here and it's definitely worth exploring. Take your time. Feel it out. Put some effort into really connecting...and you may be surprised at your results. You'll have established friends around the world...the kind who come to visit. The kind who'll invite you to go and explore Europe! And, if you've got an adventurer's heart and a new friend's soul...you'll go...oh Yes! You will go!
Why am I telling you this? Because I would love to see ecademy grow as strong in the US as it is in the UK. I believe it's possible and because it's possible it's terribly exciting. And maybe, if I am very lucky, I'll be able to rejoin by then and carry on where I left off, making my ecademy friends laugh and smile, think and wonder...and fulfill yet another dream. I'm telling this because I hope you'll go looking and check it out. I hope you'll discover, as I have, that it's one of the best, if not the best place on the planet and around the planet-to make new friends...new friends that last.
Thank you,
Love and Laughter,
Heidi
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