659th Friday Blog Roundup

We took in the eclipse from the beach.  We were going to watch from NASA, but it sounded like they were using their field and not their beach, so we headed down the road to the public beach because the kids wanted to see the waves.

It was a strange low tide.  The water pulled back far into the ocean, leaving behind shells and scurrying crabs.  You could walk far into the ocean with the water only covering your ankles.  The ChickieNob and I made our way out to a sandbar, fully dressed, by walking haphazardly on the edge of tide pools.

When the eclipse started, the beach felt like a giant party.  There was a family with eight teenagers behind us, and they didn’t have glasses, so they were using paper plates to cast shadows.  We passed our glasses back and forth with them for the three hours.  It never got dark — we were only in the 88% zone — but it got cold.

I worried that I would regret not going to the totality zone, but it was the right amount of eclipse for me.

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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:

• “Telling Kids They Can Do Anything” (Stirrup Queens) — thanks, Torthúil

Okay, now my choices this week.

Twangy Pearl has a moving post about her father, who died this week at the hospital.  It is the quietest post; a daughter trying to process her loss.  I am telling you about it, not only because I sense that the elastic girl could use support in this moment, but because we should bear witness in these moments.  The world changes every single time someone leaves it.

Look No Tubes is in that hard zone between positive beta and first scan, worried because she needs to go on faith that everything is okay.  She explains that much of her anxiety stems from an early loss.  There is nothing she can do except keep putting one foot in front of the other, but we can circle the wagons and make sure she has company as she walks through these next few weeks.

Lastly, My Path to Mommyhood has a post about breaking up with her therapist and finding a new one.  It’s a good reminder that therapy is a relationship, and not every relationship will be perfect.  You wouldn’t keep dating someone who was a terrible fit, right?  She writes, “I felt misunderstood, I felt like the last thing I need is someone who is encouraging me to keep a door open that it took a shitload of strength and presence of mind (with the health of my mind and body in the balance) to close.”  Luckily the story has a happy ending (with two f-bombs).

The roundup to the Roundup: We had a good eclipse.  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 August 18th and 25h) 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.