402nd Friday Blog Roundup
It’s the anniversary of the Roundup this week. For six straight years, every single Friday, I post a handful of blog posts that have stuck with me long after closing the screen. These are not the only posts I read worthy of extra attention. I keep a running list over the week and then pluck 4 or 5 out in order to keep the Roundup from running 20+ posts long. I try to spread around the love; though I’m not always successful at remembering who has been honoured recently (and I am guilty of also thinking that I have honoured someone only to discover that while they make my personal list frequently, I’ve never posted them into the Roundup). I have never taken a submission for the Roundup; it’s just my personal opinion of what grabbed me while I was clicking through the ALI blogosphere.
So happy birthday, Little Roundup. May you keep getting written for many many more years.
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I don’t know why, but these Where is Matt videos always make me cry.
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And now the blogs…
But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week as well as the week before. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:
- “What We Owe Each Other” (Unglamourous)
- “The Pursuit Happiness” (Quasi-Momma)
- “Expectations” (Stumbling Gracefully)
- “Believing in the Unbelievable” (From IF to When)
Okay, now my choices this week.
Bereaved and Blessed has a post on something her daughter says. It’s such a moment of sweetness, but it also ends with a thought-provoking question, one that scared me shitless when I thought about the ending to Max Tivoli. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts over there.
Why Not Us? has a beautiful post about the knowledge baggage we bring with us. From the way she watches a pregnancy storyline on a sitcom to a conversation with a friend, she knows too much now about infertility to not have it colour the way she sees the world. And she wishes she could let it go, even if just for a short while.
My Lazy Ovaries has one of those if you don’t laugh you’ll cry moments as one more thing goes wrong with her cycle. She writes: “For my next trick ladies and gentlemen, I will fail – completely and utterly – to bleed. Or I should say rather, I HAVE failed. For the first time ever (excepting the nine weeks I spent harboring the blighted ovum).” She manages to bring humour to an incredibly sucky situation.
Glitter & Rainbows has a goodbye to fertility treatments: “It’s still hard, but I accept it now. There are so many things I want to do, to focus on, to put my mental and physical energy into. I know it’s not going to be a clean break, I’m still going to mourn a little, but the infertility fog has lifted and I am busting out of that tunnel of shittiness.” It’s a brief post that packs a punch.
Lastly, the Infertility Voice has a post about how her Reader has changed, both with the quietness of summer and the fact that many of the people she started blogging with have moved on to parenting while she’s still in the trenches. It’s a beautiful analogy of how we affect one another with our stories.
The roundup to the Roundup: It’s the sixth anniversary of the Roundup! Where is Matt always makes me cry. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between July 13th and July 20th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week? Read the original open thread post here.
21 comments
I love those Where the Hell is Matt videos too. They make me cry, too.
A really good meta-blogging post on support, challenge, and commenting: http://jjiraffe.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/is-there-an-echo-echo-echo-in-here/#comment-4158
Thanks for letting me know about the “Where is Matt” videos. I completely missed those in the interwebs, but I love the idea and watched a lot of the videos. Funny!
Also, I forgot to add a post that has clicked with me this week.
http://singleinfertilefemale.blogspot.com/2012/07/im-writer-dammit.html
One more to add.
http://www.chicagonow.com/portrait-of-an-adoption/2012/07/online-pregnancy-websites-are-fun-until-you-lose-the-baby/
Happy birthday, Roundup! I look forward to you every week.
http://ahalfbakedlife.blogspot.com/2012/07/are-bystanders-ever-innocent-or-wtf.html
Ah, I didn’t realize Matt had made another video! I absolutely love them. There are times when it’s really nice to have a reminder that no matter what is going on in the world, or in your life that you can always find people who will put it all aside for a minute and just dance. The song “Praan” from his early videos is on regular rotation in our house.
I love those Where is Matt videos, too. Because they are full of hope. We want to will ourselves to believe that despite all of our differences, we can find peace in something as simple as shared movement. It’s a radical, and beautiful, idea.
Happy Birthday Roundup!
Happy Anniversary to you and all of us that benefit from reading and clicking through because of your Round-Ups!
I have never seen those Where’s Matt Videos and will have to check them out. They sound worthwhile.
Thank you so much for featuring my When You Get Little post this week! I feel truly honored. I am glad that it spoke to you and sorry it also scares you a bit. I still need to look up the story you referenced.
For second helpings, I really like this piece Jjraffe wrote called Is There an Echo (Echo, Echo) In Here?
http://jjiraffe.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/is-there-an-echo-echo-echo-in-here/
Like most great posts, for me at least, the discussion going on in the comment section is as interesting as the post itself, which speaks to Jjraffes ability to engage her readers and ask the right questions.
Also, a general shout out to Jjraffe from Too Many Fish to Fry and Justine at A Half-Baked Life who are both doing NaBloPoMo with me this month! They are proof that “writing begets writing” and I have loved watching and reading what writing and posting daily has been like for them. They both have been writing really awesome posts, so kudos! 🙂
Happy Birthday, Blog Roundup! And thank you so much Mel, for including me in today’s roundup. Much appreciated – a very reflective week for me w/regards to writing and blogging.
I’m here to give love to Serenity Now as she contemplates what’s next and the very real possibility she may never have a second child: http://serenitynowinfertile.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/rhetorical-questions/
Another blogger to mention: Cristy at Searching for our Silver Lining. A visit to her primary care physician challenges her to move from a place of grief and pain to one of preparedness as her PCP tells her, “I want you to start living like an expectant parent.” I got chills reading her post.
http://searchingforoursilverlining.blogspot.com/2012/07/role-playing.html
Ok, last one: Jessica at Too Many Fish To Fry has a post on niche vs. generalist blogging and makes the case that neither is as important as a blog’s voice. A read I needed this week.
http://jjiraffe.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/find-your-blog-voice
Happy Anniversary, Roundup!
I wanted to thank you for your printable Olympic schedule, but I don’t see a comment box on that post. I revised it and made one for CST and I’m posting sometime next week. Yours was a big help! Thanks!
I’m also going to second jjiraffe’s post on finding (and using) your voice. It’s been especially pertinent for me as I try to finish NaBloPoMo. http://jjiraffe.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/find-your-blog-voice
Happy Birthday Roundup!
I love those Matt videos. A cousin sent me a link to one of them, and I got introduced to the jumping fellow…
One post this week that triggered a memory flood for me was this:
http://babysmiling.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/thoughtful-thursday-playground/
Oh my goodness! Thank you everyone 🙂
I’d like to recommend this post by Project Progeny about her memories of being “unplugged” in a remote area of Peru. She creates vivid pictures of what she did (climb rocks, look for snails) as well as sounds and smells she remembers. A powerful reminder to get off our phones! http://projectprogeny.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/correspondence-connectivity-screens-and-free-range-joy/
Also, this bittersweet post about the birth of her twins after the passing of her son Cullen, by Cullen’s Blessings. The day the twins were born, “It was also the night of a beautiful lunar occurrence- the Super Moon- when the moon reaches it closest encounter with the earth. A kiss from the stars sent by your brother.” That line really touched me. http://cullensblessings.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/here-comes-the-sun-on-their-due-date-the-story-of-their-birth/
Happy anniversary to the Roundup!
Happy Anniversary to the Roundup!
This is old, but I am finding meaning in it as I revisited this week: http://www.velveteenmind.com/velveteenmind/2009/09/dont-let-the-fairy-dust-gag-you-phenomenon-of-blog-closures-after-conferences.html
I’d love to add one of my infertility posts from that time period. This one describes baseline monitoring of my first IUI back in January: http://www.freckledcitizen.com/2012/07/and-so-it-began.html