Thanks to the creative programming that the internet offers, I was able to create a picture this morning that brings together some special countries into a picture of what is often called by the Indigenous Culture as "Turtle Island". This is my home. North America. I have been to four countries of the forty-eight that are listed in the diagram. (Those four countries are ... Canada, United States, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago. )
The other countries listed now have a special place in my heart. In the fourteen years of blogging as a married woman, I have had visitors to my writing from all these countries (or so the stats on the blog say). Discovering the details of my blog traffic gave me a showering of encouragement yesterday. I had been into the stats before and understood that somehow, my words made it to countries across the globe, but some of the details still surprised me. Here are some.
My book blog has over three hundred hits in Saudi Arabia. This stat surprised me. I can't visualize who, in a predominantly Muslim country, would be interested in a blog that highlights reads from the likes of Rob Bell, Rachel Held Evans, C.S. Lewis, Brian McLaren and oh yeah!... Peter Rollins. Before my book blog became a book blog, it was my deconstruction venting blog. I really can't imagine anyone in Saudi Arabia interested in hearing how I navigated my departure from Christianity.
Next to Canada and the United States, the next highest country in post views is Russia. This also amazed me. I don't know anyone in Russia. So I can't blame that on family and friends... only on some unknown fans.
One of the countries on my bucket list is Austria. I had one hit from that country, and it was on my newest blog on puzzling that I haven't had much exposure to... Nine hits, to be precise.
I feel for the most part that I am relatively unknown in the blogging world. Nine blogs and fourteen years later, I am at 23,736 blog views as of yesterday's count. That doesn't seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things.
"If you've done a great job with your blog, you should expect between 20-30,000 page views per month after 1 year, it could be more and it could be less. It really depends on the blog and the niche you pick." Quora quote
I haven't done 30,000 page views in fourteen years with nine blogs, never mind a month with one. But somehow... my words have made it to all the continents (not including Antarctica.. but what polar researcher has time for that!).
I was reading something about the word "Holy" while reading Rudolf Otto this morning. That word has troubled me in the exit from religion as a practice. What does "Holy" mean in the grand picture. Is it just reserved for the religious? The Hebrew meaning "set apart" seems to give it better definition for me. "Set apart", to me, means special, acknowledged as significant, something that needs to be treated with respect and honour. Something "Holy" can't be brushed away with busyness and ignorance. Places can be "Holy", but moments can be "Holy" and experiences can be "Holy". Those are the stop and wait moments where one gets to sit and just take in the massive weight of it all.
This list of countries makes me want to sit and soak in the significance. I will never make into most of these countries on a personal visit. I will never have a phone call or Zoom visit with any of the residents of some of these countries. But somehow, my words have reached past the borders and onto someone's computer or phone screen. There is something in that understanding that gives me no other word today, but "Holy". I need to just sit and be in awe of how it all happened. What am I saying that invites someone from Egypt, or Vietnam, or Pakistan to read my words? I have no explanation for any of it. But when the word "Holy" came to my mind today, I had to embrace the possibility that maybe there are no explanations. There is just a place where I need to sit and breathe in, and breathe out. This place, this experience is "Holy".
