Unbelievably, 2014 is almost finished. Soon it will be memory and history. It has been an amazing year for me. I look forward to sharing more tomorrow. Tonight, I am working on creating a pictorial review, as part of today’s first, to share tomorrow. It stretches me, technology wise, to create such a massive project. And, I’m not sure yet it is going to work!
I’m using a program on my computer to create the slideshow, set to music. The part I’m unsure about is whether the program can handle 365 photos….one from each of my firsts. If not, I’ll adapt. Because adaptability has been one of the most important lessons I’ve learned from my Year of Firsts, and Going Beyond.
Even if the slideshow doesn’t work as I hope it will, it has been wonderful to sort through the pictures tonight, and remember. A year is a long time. I’m so glad for this blog and the photos because I’d not be able to hold it all in my memory. As I looked at the pictures, I’d smile, or tear up, or say, “Oh,yeah…I’d forgotten about that!” This has been a rich and precious journey, and I’m so grateful for it and for the incredible people who shared it with me.
WordPress surprised me today with an annual report, which I will share this evening, as the rest of my first. It’s been amazing, this writing experience, and it is paving the way for more opportunities. I know some blogs receive a million or more views a MONTH. My little blog has well over 15,000 views now, for the year, and I’m just thrilled with that. It was totally unexpected, that I would develop a following. Viewers from 70 different countries have visited the blog, and that amazes me too. I have a little following in India, for example, who seem to enjoy the blog post about Maya Angelou’s poem, “Caged Bird”. And it thrills my heart to see viewers checking in from New Zealand, the UK, Russia and Spain….countries all over the world. Each visitor is so welcomed. Each person is an encouragement to me.
A year ago on this date, I was looking ahead, excited and yet nervous, and wondered how I would be able to complete this adventure. Today, knowing it is almost done, I marvel that the year went by so fast. And the nervousness disappeared a long time ago. Thank you for traveling with me!
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 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 15,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.