813th Friday Blog Roundup

Linus has a bladder stone. We noticed that his wheek changed. A few days after that, he started doing the strange wheek whenever he peed or pooped. We took him to the vet—a new vet because our vet retired (this new doctor is wonderful and caring)—and she found a bladder stone when she took an x-ray. He will need an operation to remove it.

This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I keep hearing a mantra in my head: “I cannot do this.” I think it when we’re driving to the vet, when we’re waiting in the parking lot because we can’t go inside, when we’re driving home. When I’m sitting beside him or giving him medicine. Clearly, I am doing this, but my heart feels like I cannot do this. I cannot lose my pig.

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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:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

Inconceivable! has a post about resolution that comes with an espresso machine. Her doctor provides an amazing perspective on being 90% sure: “So, so much of what I’ve heard over the years and read has been people saying ‘you want to be 100% certain.  You don’t regret the children you do have, you regret the children you don’t.’  Maybe this is good advice for fairly fertile women who haven’t been dragged through h*ll and back on fertility issues.” It is a must-read post. For everyone. Even if you don’t drink coffee. (I promise the espresso machine part is explained in the post.)

Hopelessly Infertile and Surrounded by Fertiles has a post about what happens when you keep things low-key. After a frustrating Rosh Hashanah, she decides to do Yom Kippur differently and it ends up being exactly what she needs: “And inside my heart, I felt just a tiny spark. I would go for Kol Nidre. I would hear the voice of my childhood. I would be present in that moment. And I was. And I stayed for the rest of the service too. And a few minutes afterwards talking to my old next door neighbor and the mom of one of my very good friends.” And I love that she “lit up every part of [her] soul.” We all need that.

Lastly, Infertile Phoenix also talks about taking things down a notch, a lesson in self-care that she learned during infertility that also applies to the pandemic. She writes, “But no, no, no to most everything else and to anything extra right now. I can’t do it. I cannot. There’s already too much to process on a daily basis.” I love the idea of holding back some of your energy for yourself.

The roundup to the Roundup: Linus is sick. 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 September 25 – October 2) 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.