Another Year of Dots on a Map

On May 15th, ClustrMaps archived the map with all the dots on it, the ones showing where the visitors to this blog are around the world. This is the second time they have archived it, so this map shows the dots from May 15, 2009 to May 15, 2010. The first one, from the prior year, is in the column at right. Now there is a new map collecting dots, and I am humbled that there have now been 10,470 visits to the blog. Despite the fact that I stopped writing regularly in April, the visitor count seems to be fairly stable per day. I wonder why. Are all those visitors people who arrive here via some keyword search? I suspect most of them are, and then what? Do they stay and read about my son? I will never know, but I am glad this blog is here, my memorial to my Leif, who I will always, always love.

ClustrMap Archived

If you're one of the visitors who clicks on the ClustrMap on this blog to see how many people visited it the previous day, or the running total of the number of visits from various countries, don't be alarmed that all the dots on the map and totals seem to have disappeared. So that the map won't become, as they put it, a giant red smear, they archive the map after a year. I started writing RememberingLeif on April 10, 2008, the day we discovered his body, but I didn't add a ClustrMap until May 15, 2008. The annual archiving thus took place on May 15, 2009. I took a screen shot of it before it was zeroed out to start over, and it posted here and I may add it as an element on the page. You can also click on the link at the top of the page (after you click on the current ClustrMap) to find the archive.

I am thankful and humbled that there have been over 5,000 visitors to RememberingLeif in that year. I know that probably a fifth of those are from Peter and me. If a person visits more than once a day from the same computer, it only counts as one visit, but separate computers are separate visits, and sometimes I check it from a couple of computers during the day.

That still leaves over 4,000 visits from others. I know some of those visits are "accidental," not someone coming because they looked up Leif, or have been following the blog, but someone who "arrived" because of a key word they looked up, or because they were trying to find Leif Garrett. Some of them may not have stayed; some found the blog meaningful. I wish all of you well. I wish all of you happiness, companionship, and love. May none of you ever have to deal with the despair Leif experienced or the grief we have felt. Come back to follow his life and ours.