This is more than a blog. 2013 in review - AND my 400th post!

I love the way WordPress provides a review of my bloggy year!  And with sweet timing, this is providing the material for this, my 400th blog post!

Happy blog-a-something, dear gecko!

There are some quirky little facts in the review – for example,

• The searches which directed most traffic to the blog included – “Scotland” and “Halloween pictures to colour”.  I reckon there must have been some highly confused and disappointed visitors!
• The post which attracted most viewers was a rant which I wrote in around fifteen minutes and which terrified me as it became viral, with more viewers than the blog had had in the whole of 2010!
• When Marie of Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer called on bloggers earlier today to share their favourite post of the year, I chose between three.  Those three are in fact the three most viewed posts of the year.
• The blog was read in 144 countries last year.  That makes me feel dizzy and incredibly humbled.  Although many probably stumbled there by mischievous search guidance from Google :)
• I have enormous support from friends who comment regularly – THANK YOU to Catherine, Karen, Nancy, Beth and Nancy who were highlighted, as well as many friends who engage with my witterings, outpourings and rants.

On a serious note, I need to repeat that this blog is more than a blog to me.  This is the way I have navigated my way through life since hearing those unwelcome “this is highly suspicious of cancer” words.  This has been the way I process and work through what comes in my path.  This has been the way I have found out that I am truly not alone in this.  This year has been particularly hard with more than its fair share of loss.  The blog has been one way of processing grief.

I feel it is woefully inadequate, but I mean it –

Thank you!

In case you are interested in the randomness of the review in detail – here it is:

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 29,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 11 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.