740th Friday Blog Roundup

I just did my first escape room. It was for the Wolvog’s special day. We got pizza and played pinball beforehand, and then went downtown to a VR escape room. It’s in this wonderfully creepy building; empty and tucked back from the street. The room they put you in is almost completely empty except for a few things on the walls and locked boxes. And then you alternate between exploring the room, trying to solve puzzles, and watching tiny video snippets that provide clues as it reveals the story.

It was so cool to run around the room and try to figure out the clues. I’ll admit that if I had been alone in the room, I would not have escaped because I would have sat down and waited out the hour after hitting the first wall. So it was good to be in the room with my children, husband, and father who DID solve the puzzles and allow me to jump up and down clapping as my contribution. We got out with three minutes to spare.

Oh! And the VR part was the final part. The Wolvog had to put on a VR mask and line up the controller while everyone else pressed these buttons on the wall. It was awesome.

Have you ever done an escape room? We want to go again.

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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:

• “How Infertility Affects Our World Views” (No Kidding in NZ)
• “Thoughts on 18” (Lavender Luz)

Okay, now my choices this week.

No Kidding in NZ has a post about connections between unconnected experiences. She dissects a person’s post about divorce, pointing out the similarities with the infertility experience: “In particular, she talked about people asking her if she had considered marriage counseling. Replace ‘marriage counseling’ with ‘adoption’ and I could have written the entire paragraph.” It is eye-opening to find other life experiences that echo the same patterns.

Family Building with a Twist has a post about how the feelings of infertility never fully go away, and she links to a piece she read recently on infertility and loneliness.  She explains: “It’s a sisterhood, a club, without formal admission requirements or meetings (or even desire to join). Just pain. It isn’t omnipresent like is was before D was born but it is still there, lingering.” So true.

Bereaved and Blessed marks the eleventh anniversary of Molly’s birth and death. I love hearing how the family remembers her, and also this nugget of wisdom: “As your sibling’s pediatrician told me, not long after you died, we’ll have to continue to explain what happened to Sean, as well as Abby (after she was born/joined our family), because the older they get their comprehension and perspective will grow and change.” And yes, I did get choked up when I read the parts about Harry Potter and the connection with eleven.

Finally, Baby Ridley Bump has a post about letting go of plans to make the best choice right now. She has decided to postpone her transfer in order to give attention to her daughter. She writes: “It’s hard because I wanted our kids to be close in age, but I’ve again learned the lesson about relinquishing control of things that I really have no control over.” It’s a wonderful post about the decisions we make.

The roundup to the Roundup: We escaped the escape room.  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 April 12th and 19th) 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.