Blogger Entertainment

I'm a geek when it comes to blog stats. This blog has been around for over 4 years, but I cannot honestly pinpoint the specific category of what I write about most often. I just attempted to win some freebie Shutterfly cards and they asked if I blog. Then they asked what I specifically blog about. It was multiple choice and I could only choose one category. I chose child loss since that's the latest and most relevant topic at this point in my life.

I've written about all kinds of things in this 4 year span...

• newlywed life
• traveling in the U.S.
• traveling overseas
• recipes/food
• pregnancy
• exercise
• random things we do/like
• grief, death of a child

I initially started blogging to update family as we moved to middle America, also known to us Wilsons as the land sans mountains. How we miss them so. Gradually it's become much more than that. I like it that way. This is a journal of my life. All the highs, all the lows, all the valleys, all the ups, all the downs. No BS.

I try not to blog politics or religion all that much as not to alienate people with different viewpoints. Otherwise I'd go on and on about how I feel about this bin Laden coverage. I respect others of different cultures and religions and don't feel I have the right to judge those of any background. It's not my job. And I generally don't follow people on facebook or blogger who don't follow similar criteria. Poke fun at things, life circumstances, yourself, your husband (okay, maybe that's just me), but respect the beliefs of others.

With that all said... I am always surprised by what posts are read the most on the ol' bloggeroo. My most popular post to date is about our visit to Bucharest, Romania. I guess there isn't a lot of information out there about tourism on the web for this country. That post alone has seen almost 2,200 visitors.

Part of me is so happy that my blog has not been entirely taken over by the sad baby posts. But sure enough, coming in at the #2 spot is the unrefined, but completely raw depiction of my son's birth/death at 860 views. That's 860 very sad people and likely many, many tears. Eventually this will become the most frequently visited post, I predict, because it is so much a part of who we are now. That makes me nervous enough to want to rewrite said post, but I like that it was written with intense tears and anguish. It may not be perfect, but it's the real deal. And if that story helps just one person to understand that they, too, can speak up and out about their grief, it served a positive purpose. I know that countless friends have thanked me for expressing my pain because it gives them some frame of understanding. While I hope they never fully understand (though I hope and yet resent that concurrently) this grief, at least they're getting a glimpse into the heavy realization. Maybe they cherish their own kids a little more. Maybe they acknowledge the loss a friend has experienced. Whatever it may be, I hope those 860 people are able to take from that story a sense of understanding. Even if only in broken pieces.

Coming in at #3 is my post about visiting Ulm & Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Hooray for travel posts still holding popularity. The best time in my life surrounding the worst experience of my life. Oh, the irony.

Of the top most frequently visited posts, 7 are travel, 1 is pregnancy, 1 is about baby sadness, and 1 is random and is hardly the least bit entertaining. It's also the last post I wrote before giving birth to my son. People likely click on it because they wanted to see what came just before the worst tragedy in the history of my life. Written two days before everything crumbled. Actually, it wasn't the last post... but that post was deleted since it was some tribute to funny things kids say to their moms. That was a scheduled post, I remember, to take place on Andrew's birthday. Since nothing can top that date and no blog post is appropriate enough, it was erased.

And the keywords. Oh, these are so fun. Well, most of the time. Here are some keywords people typed into Google that yielded our blog as a result (in which they also clicked on) complete with my commentary:

• beautiful bungee jumpers  Are bungee jumpers ever beautiful? And shouldn't this be an image search?
• picture of a meat shop We visited Spain and I'm assuming I mentioned a meat shop? Also an image search.
• snoop dogg bratislava Okay... what? This yielded any results? And my blog was in that mix? Oh Google, don't fail us.
• recipe sweet corn ravioli cayote cantina One of my fave restaurants in Cali, Coyote Cantina and they have amazing sweet corn ravioli of which I've obviously written about before...
• romanian pancake I ate one of these in Romania. Nothing special, but again with the lack of Romanian posts on the www.
• edward teach grave marker cococay bahamas Hello, random! I think someone was specifically trying to find me but couldn't think of the blog name, so they typed information they *thought* they knew about me?! I get a lot of "windy wilsons", "windy city wilsons" searches through Google. So let me break this down: Edward = hospital we had Andrew. Teach = I'm a teacher. Grave marker = no freaking idea? We have no grave marker anywhere but we do have a dead son. Coco Cay Bahamas = visited there on our cruise in February.
• visit the dentist Then I received a comment from a dentist's office about dental visits. Thanks but no thanks. 
• how much does a masseuse make at massage envy When did I ever talk about pricing? I guess very few bloggers write about that place!?
• do we pray for trivial things? The answer is yes. I think so. But does it hurt, I don't think so.
• I don't like my dentist Don't know what to tell you. They always give me bad news, too. Looking for a support group?
• bermuda, bahama come on pretty mama Ah, Beach Boys.
• 2010 world events and the good that came from them I surely have no clue why I would be speaking about 2010 being a year from anything good happening. It went like this for me: good, good, good, BAD. VERY BAD.
• reasons for a 4-month old to see a dentist Wasn't that sad soul of a person mortified to see my blog and all my crappy sadness when they were innocently trying to find info about their child who likely shared a birth month with my child? Creating awareness just one unsuspecting soul at a time. Carry on with your happy life Mr. or Mrs. Googler.
• flight turbulence April 26, 2011 I wonder if they were on my airplane?         
 

Also, the U.S. leads in visitors followed by Germany, then Canada. Around 50% of you use IE (I am a Firefox supporter), and 18% of you have a Mac-- of which I'm super jealous!