726th Friday Blog Roundup

Hey, remember my super-awesome new glasses?  They’re actually not that awesome.  They are the ones that broke while we were at Disney, which was actually the second time they broke since getting them in November.  So they went back to the store this week.

I have a great deal of broken glasses anxiety after this experience.  I have an up-to-date copy of my prescription on me at all times.  I always travel with a backup pair of glasses.  But the fact that I needed to use those backup glasses less than six weeks into using the new glasses made me feel like if I was going to keep these frames, I needed a backup pair of glasses for my backup pair of glasses.  Which seemed a bit much.

We returned to the store this week, and they exchanged them for the other pair that I had been considering.  They told me that it would take a few days to get the new pair made, so for the time being, I don’t truly have backup glasses.  I have an old prescription I could use in a pinch, but… yikes.  That one beach trip has left me with never-ending speculaphobia.  Unless that means “fear of glasses,” in which I don’t fear my glasses.  I just fear being away from home and holding a lens in my hand.

My fellow glasses-wearers know exactly what I mean.

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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:

• “Last of 2018” (Weathering Storms)
• “House of Broken Dreams, Home of New Dreams” (My Path to Mommyhood)
• “Take All Your Chances” (Stirrup Queens) — thank you, Cristy!
• “Top 5” (Lavender Luz)
• “In Defense of Pink” (Leah Campbell)

Okay, now my choices this week.

By the Brooke is expecting again, and she writes about that bittersweet state between enjoying the current moment and living on the edge of fear.  She writes, “As my friend Sarah kindly reminded me, planning for and talking about a baby is not a cause of pregnancy loss.  But when your baby dies before she is born, causation and correlation get really murky.”  So circle the wagons; she could use support and celebration.

No Kidding in NZ has a post about needing an advocate in old age and not having children.  She makes good points about the lack of guarantees with kids, but outlines what everyone needs to do to be protected: “If we won’t have people to advocate for us, then we need to advocate for ourselves. We can do this, as much as possible, simply by planning and then – most importantly – making our wishes known in advance. Time-travel advocacy!”  Not the cheeriest topic, but an important post to read and think about.

Lastly, Searching for Our Silver Lining has a post about guardianship.  Again, an important post to read and think about.  She brings up the question of how to choose guardians — do you go with someone who already has children in their home, or do you go with someone who isn’t parenting and can dedicate their time and energy to your children?  She writes, “Because the reality is Maddy’s and Teddy’s role isn’t to fill some void; no more than people who are not parenting should be waiting in the wings to take on child-raising responsibilities.”  It’s a fine line to walk and an interesting situation to consider, too.

The roundup to the Roundup: I have broken glasses anxiety.  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 4th and 11th) 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.