Tucker thinks this blog is about him. He is bowlegged like me, but I am not a beagle. He, however, sometimes thinks he’s a human, with all the rights and privileges that accompany that. He is wrong.
I had the opportunity to spend some unexpected extra time with my brother and his family in late December. I spent the night at their house…he is married and has two teenage children. I also learned something new about my niece, his daughter, who is 16 years old. We were talking about math, of all things, and more specifically, calculus. She is taking a calculus class at the local state university and when we got into a discussion of how school was going, she said, “That class is killing me!” Now, not to brag or anything, but this kid is SMART. I remarked to my brother once that I thought it should be the goal of every parent to make sure that their kids turn out smarter than their parents. I commended him for his success in that! He agreed but wasn’t exactly sure if it was also a rather backhanded compliment.
Anyway, my niece said that she had really enjoyed algebra, but that calculus was a bit of a mystery to her. I’ll call her Algebragrrl. I told her that I had taken calculus in high school and did not do well in it at all, but I had always attributed that to the fact that I moved to another city right in the middle of high school (11th grade) and the math classes at the new school didn’t really match up to the classes I was in at the old school, and I never really got back on track with math, although I had also loved algebra. My math chat with my niece was a very nice moment for me…realizing that we both had a love of algebra. When she was a young kid, I didn’t really feel a connection to her and so, making this connection with her a few days before Christmas was a really nice feeling. It was an early Christmas present. Then she surprised me even more.
Algebragrrl: I like to count things, too. Do you?
Me: Why YES, I DO! I count steps. How interesting. We must be related. (Snicker.)
Algebragrrl: (Grin.) I also like to put things in alphabetical order. All of our DVD’s are in alphabetical order.
Me: ME TOO! All of my DVD’s are in alphabetical order. I used to want to be a librarian. You would like my coin collection. I have coins from all over the world, organized in notebooks, in alphabetical order, and also in order of ascending value within each country. I’ll have to show you sometime. I started this collection when I was about 8 years old.
Algebragrrl: (Eyes wide.) Okay!
What a cute kid. I can’t believe she’s 16 years old either! And I was just thrilled to make this new connection with her. (I also found out recently that she likes photography, too.) And what a strange, quirky connection…math, algebra and counting things.
After all the Christmas travels were over, and the calendar flipped over to January, I received an email report from WordPress with my first annual blog summary report. It was chock full of numbers…I loved it. Apparently, WordPress likes to count things, too.
Here’s what I learned: People from 64 countries have viewed my blog, which I began last May. (Gosh, I wonder if I have coins from all of those countries? Better check that out…) The report said I had over 2,300 views of my posts in 2012. My busiest day was last September 18, 2012 when I had 63 views of my blog. My most popular posts were the ones on the leg braces. It must have been the photos of the cute bird feeder that I made with the braces that made it so popular.
I just read all that stuff in the report and thought, “Why?” Then I laughed. Why in the world would someone from clear across the world want to read this? I really have no idea. It could have been accidental. One of the tags is “XLH” which is also some kind of motorcycle.
Anyway, all those numbers do fascinate me. (And, who, by the way, is counting all of those views? Hmmm…)
Here are some more fascinating numbers that I have been thinking about lately, unrelated to the report:
There are over 7 billion people in the world (and this information comes from http://www.worldometers.info). I have something in common with over 7 billion people…I am a human just like they are humans.
There are over 315,000,000 people living in the U.S.A., which is where I live. I share something in common with over 315,000,000 other people…I reside in the U.S.A.
Approximately 51% of those people living in the U.S.A. are women. So, I share something in common with 160,650,000 other people here in the U.S.A. I am a woman. You won’t see that same percentage in Congress or in the prison system, but overall, we are the majority, slightly.
Okay, and now for my fellow XLH-ers, which is the whole reason I started this blog last May: According to http://www.xlhnetwork.org, which is our online support group, 1 in 20,000 people (and I am assuming they mean worldwide) have XLH. That’s 350,000 people in the WORLD and 15,750 people in the U.S.A. with whom I have something very unique in common. Very unique, indeed! I find that to be a little miraculous, actually…that I share the same quirky, weird genetic mutation as 11 other people in my city, 462 other people in my state, and 15,750 other people in my country, and 350,000 other people in the world. How’d we all do that very same thing…mutate on the X chromosome and end up with this thing called XLH? What a mystery!
I also find it odd that I have all these genetic “relatives” and I’ve never met a single one of you in person. (We’re still not sure about my mother…) I’ve “met” some of you through this blog (ah, the internet, another miracle!) but I’ve never stood face to face with another XLH-er, even though there are several of you out there, 11 of whom reside in my city. (Wanna meet for lunch?)
I have enjoyed the mystery, though. I know you’re out there…I’ve been thrilled to connect with some of you through this blog. It’s been a comfort to think there are some folks out there who might read a post and think, “Yep, I know what she’s talking about!” I’ve enjoyed the connection with my mystery readers and the readers with whom I was already friends and who are only reading this blog because they love me, which may be another disorder altogether. I even have a relative who read my blog and he says it inspired him to start his own blog.
So, here’s to 2012. Thank you, readers and subscribers, for reading my ramblings, making comments, and hitting the “like” button. I feel very honored that you have taken the time to read some of my posts. And, being a little partial to the XLH-ers, sometimes I say an extra little prayer for your well-being. I know you’re out there. I have numbers to prove it.
Yes, 2012 was a good year. And when I woke up on January 1st, 2013, and my feet hit the floor and my butt did NOT hit the floor, I thought, “Yep. This is starting out to be a good year, too!” I wish you all a good year in 2013!
Most of these coins are from my childhood collection, as you can see the childish handwriting on some of the holders. My dad started me out by giving me Canadian coins that he had found in his change. Then, as I got older, friends would bring back some from their travels. The one from Pakistan was the first coin I ever purchased. I bought it already in a cardboard holder, at a flea market for 10 cents, when I was about 10 years old. The memory is worth way more than 10 cents.
Copyright 2013-2018, Banjogrrldiaries and S.G. Hunter
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