816th Friday Blog Roundup

My ballot has been accepted. First, my to-do list included, “Request mail-in ballot.” Then it was, “Check that ballot arrived.” Then, “Fill out ballot and return to polling box.” And finally, “Check if ballot has been accepted.”

In Maryland, you can track your ballot. And it was a sigh of relief when I knew it arrived and was accepted and counted.

I like to go to the polls on voting day—I’m not even a vote early kind of girl—but it made no sense to ask poll workers to risk their lives for me so I could be there in person when there is a perfectly acceptable alternative. So I voted from home, and now there is nothing to do except wait and worry.

I am worried about the results. I am worried about what comes next. I am just worried. Full stop.

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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:

• “Two Weeks and Then Some” (Chasing the Gerber Dragon)
• “Schrödinger’s Happiness” (Stirrup Queens)—thanks, Jess!

Okay, now my choices this week.

Jewish IVF sums up how I feel. Exactly. Drained is the perfect word. “I definitely feel mentally and emotionally drained. Feeling like fewer people are taking the pandemic seriously, even while numbers continue to rise, is draining. The political climate is draining. The state of the world — nay, the UNIVERSE (hello asteroid) — is draining. Will it ever feel like the sky isn’t falling?” Yes. To all of it.

Infertile Phoenix recounts two separate moments of… oof. For lack of a better word, I leave you with a sound. She begins by pointing out: “I refuse to explain anything to satisfy someone’s fleeting questions about my personal life and trauma. It took me years to get where I am today physically, emotionally, spiritually, socially, and geographically. Why should I and how could I possibly satiate their curiosity in five to ten minutes?” And then goes into two things said to her recently. You completely understand why she needs to set those boundaries in place. And I love this: “I don’t like it when people don’t let me have my ending to my own story.”

Lastly, speaking of “oof” moments (there’s that sound again!), Hopelessly Infertile and Surrounded by Fertiles recounts an exchange with a kid, who inadvertently presses against an emotional bruise. It’s a short post with a profound ending on the perspective of aloneness.

The roundup to the Roundup: Worried about the election. 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 October 16 – October 23) 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.