630th Friday Blog Roundup
I am sitting here, feeling a vague wave of nausea, waiting for everyone to wake up so we can face this day together. We will not be watching the Inauguration. We don’t normalize hate in this house, and unlike our local Girl Scouts, we don’t participate in events just for history’s sake. We make mindful decisions based on the facts we have on hand, and those facts point us directly in the opposite direction of this administration. Where they hate, we’ll help.
We’ll start by not participating in today’s event. It’s a small step, but it’s an important one because if we don’t take this first step, that normalization paves the way for a lot of other small steps that lead nowhere good.
Wishing everyone a deep breath today.
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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.
Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.
As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments in order to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.
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And now the blogs…
But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:
- “The Other Side” (Searching for Our Silver Lining)
- “Just a Normal Day in the Backyard” (Persnickety Chickadee)
- “Wordless Wednesday” (Persnickety Chickadee)
- “Nicht Mein Problem” (Elaine Ohne Kind)
- “Adoption on Screen: ‘This is Us’ and ‘Lion’ Give New Focus” (Lavender Luz)
- “IVF vs Adoption Waiting” (My Path to Mommyhood)
Okay, now my choices this week.
Biogirl’s post on keeping (or not keeping) resolutions cracked me up, especially the part about her journal from childhood. Yes, you will need to click over to find out the diary entry because it’s too brief to write about without ruining the punchline.
Notes from the Ninth Circle brings in a baseball analogy when she gets bumped down to the fertility minor league for a cycle while her body recuperates. I kept returning to this line: “But it feels weird to have a new plan and be waiting to implement it.”
My Path to Mommyhood reassures all good-hearted people that yes, she has considered it; “it” being whatever is about to come out of their mouth. She points out: “That question feels like it is a judgment on our choices, which were difficult beyond measure and individual to our circumstance.” It’s a great post, and one that people should read before they pose the question.
Lastly, Lavender Luz has a post about adoption reform. She states: “Reforming policy and law is one necessary step, but it’s not the last step. Not until ideas of respect, empathy, and inherent value of others also take root in people’s hearts can true and enduring change happen” while drawing a line between reforms that brought about equality in regards to law but not full application in every facet of society. The post begins in the link above and continues to a second space.
The roundup to the Roundup: Abnormal times call for an abnormal response. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between January 13th and January 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.
13 comments
We have been talking a lot this week about how “Love trumps hate” isn’t just a campaign slogan but how we live our lives.
My own small, probably useless protest today, since I can’t get out of the house, is to ensure that we don’t add to his TV ratings or page views. Our TV will stay far away from channels carrying the event and our devices will not be clicking through to any articles.
As a good witch, I may just see if the protection spell I usually use when I get in a plane could possibly be expanded to the entire country. It can’t hurt, right?
Hello everyone. I wouldn’t normally share my blog link here but I’m hopeful that perhaps someone with a similar experience will happen upon it. I’m feeling quite lost these days and struggling with feelings of hopelessness and “otherness”. After over 8 years of battling infertility (which as many of you can relate, can make you feel like an outsider among your friends and family), my husband and I were finally expecting our miracle, conceived on our 4th and final IVF round…but she was born too soon and passed away after 8 hrs and 43 min of life outside my womb. We are devastated and trying to find our footing as we learn to adapt to our new normal without our only child, our Evelyn. If anyone has lost a child (especially after a lengthy battle with infertility), I’d sure love to connect with you. Thank you, Melissa for all you do for the infertility community, and again, I don’t mean to misuse this platform/post. http://infertilemyrtleme.blogspot.com/
I’ve been dreading today for over 2 months. Like many, I’m frightened about what is to come. But I also know that these small acts, even if they seem pointless, do add up. It’s the small acts of refusing to give into the hate that bring change. So thank you for protesting. We won’t be celebrating either and we will be boycotting anyone who earns money for participating in today’s events.
Sending love to our community today. And protection and strength to those who protest over the weekend.
Thank you for sharing such a thoughtful post on this day. Like many others, my television will not be tuned to a station broadcasting about “Inaugural traditions” as one local broadcaster blathered on about last night. I know about such traditions. I’ve eagerly watched every millimetre of film/tape (and read many articles/books) regarding Presidential Inaugurations since the second inauguration of President Eisenhower. I just couldn’t do it this time. I didn’t always agree with the choice of the American people, but there’s never been a time like this in my lifetime.
So last night I started watching our DVR of “Star Wars – The Force Awakens”. There was about 30 minutes I hadn’t watched when I turned it off. This morning I picked it up where I had stopped. OMG! I didn’t know Han Solo died. That was an awful surprise. Somehow, today, it almost seemed appropriate that the hero would die.
After “Star Wars – TFA” ended. I went to my favourite of all time, “Fiddler on the Roof”. I can get lost in that movie, it has everything. I just love it. (Right now the scene at the cemetery is playing.)
Excuse this “run on” post. Just wanted you to know I’m abiding with you today. And again, thank you for setting an example and sharing.
Years ago, I read a quote. I’m unsure who said it, but the gist of it was “all it takes for evil to triumph in the world is for good people to do nothing.” I think we need to remember that in these precarious times.
Haha, thanks for including my post!
I loved My Path to Mommyhood’s post too. I get tired of well meaning but clueless comments sometimes! Of course we’ve thought of that!
I enjoyed Alaskan Blueberry’s tongue in cheek Christmas card and letter they sent while didn’t hold back from talking about infertility. Anything to normalize and stop it from being a hidden pain is great.
https://akblueberry.wordpress.com/2017/01/19/nothing-shameful-to-see-here/
And I liked Family Building with a twist’s post about Trump’s inauguration: https://babywithatwist.wordpress.com/2017/01/20/inauguration-2017/ since I also can’t believe it has come to this.
We had the news on at work yesterday and somehow it all seemed a little too much like the series of clips you would get at the beginning of a dystopian future film. Truly scary times we are living on.
Though I am taking heart from the number of women marching today. It gives me hope that just maybe, maybe, if people come together in this way, we might survive all the the hate in the world at the moment.
Thanks for including my post, and thanks to Katherine for the waiting post nod. It was a rough day yesterday. I didn’t watch the inauguration except for a brief moment where someone had it on their smartboard, and it was the Obamas leaving in the helicopter, and this man in the classroom said, “Good riddance! See ya!” and it made me feel like throwing up. I didn’t want to get into a fight about it (there’s no winning there) but did sarcastically say “tell me how you really feel” and then stared at the helicopter flying away, feeling like all decency and love for all people was leaving the capitol. I made a point to look visibly sad and dejected when I left. Ugh. So much hatred just freely spewed.
I found Jess’ post about adoption agencies versus private adoptions to be very informative and useful, even though adoption isn’t our path.
http://mypathtomommyhood.blogspot.com/2017/01/why-we-chose-agency-adoption-and-not.html
This is a really important post for all of us to read:
http://mypathtomommyhood.blogspot.com/2017/01/about-those-shoes-weve-all-been-in.html
Thank you so much for including my posts today.
I was going to suggest Jess’s posts, too. So good.
I’m abiding with you, Mel.
Inkling Post’s first post in awhile is a must-read. I suppose it would be wishful thinking that the lawmakers in Washington (& Ottawa) read it before they make any decisions that will affect women’s lives and health…
http://inklingpost.tumblr.com/post/156241713640/5-years-after-my-daughters-deaththe-great-march
I’m late to this party (which is pretty much par for the course of my life lately), but I’d like to throw Mali’s recent post into the mix for the open thread. I feel like this is a must read for everyone, and is certainly one of the most important blog posts that I’ve read in a long time. https://nokiddinginnz.blogspot.com/2017/01/writing-about-those-with-different.html