Category — Friday Blog Roundup

We went to the National Aquarium for the first time in many years. We were members when the kids were little, so we often went there. But over time, they switched their membership to an imaginative play place and then a science museum. We always got the membership that allowed us to take friends with us, so we spent most days off of school or random summer days looking at fish, learning about the pyramids, or conducting experiments. It was a good childhood.

The Wolvog asked that we go back to the aquarium for Wolvog Day, his yearly floating surprise birthday.

Our favourite turtle, Calypso, died early in the pandemic, but everything else was as we left it at least ten years earlier. Walking through it again was strange and emotional, especially to see the bubble water sculptures that the twins loved to stand behind.

I guess it’s time for new memories.

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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 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. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Weddings and Hope” (Finding a Different Path)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Dubliner in Deutschland captured a lunch date in a few words and pictures. I’m not sure why I loved this so much, but I did. Maybe because it captures a moment where she slowed down and realized that life is amazing because it is filled with expectedly delightful meals.

Lastly, Infertile Phoenix talks about the exhaustion that accompanies grief. She writes, “I will never forget that massively heavy feeling. I will never miss feeling so adrift and pointless. I will never take energy or inspiration for granted.” It’s an interesting study in noticing the difference between daily tiredness and grief tiredness.

The roundup to the Roundup: Back to the aquarium. 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 July 14 – July 28) 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.

This is the anniversary — the 17th anniversary, to be exact — of the very first Friday Blog Roundup. I didn’t know how to do hyperlinks back then, and there are probably older issues that weren’t tagged correctly and, therefore, don’t show up under the Roundup tag. But this blog has 951 other Roundup posts, mainly following the same format, week after week.

I still think all of the same things I said back on the 15th anniversary, two years ago.

*******

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 to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

*******

And now the blogs…

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Is a No Kidding Life a Radical One?” (No Kidding in NZ)

Okay, now my choices this week.

The Next 15000 Days has a post about being okay. She explains, “A young woman who is accepting her childless life finds comfort in reading my old posts. She wrote that she wants to see in my posts that I am OK. Because if I am OK, she will be too. Am I OK? I think I am!” It definitely sounds like more than an okay life (nature + ice cream = time well spent). But I especially love this reason for why people read blogs; why we connect to another person’s story.

Lastly, Finding a Different Path writes about medical imaging and finding photographic evidence of happy moments or problems. She writes of those early ultrasound pictures: “In more hopeful times, I saw these photos as the earliest possible baby pictures ever. I saw them as proof of the inexplicable medical miracle that was possible.” But I love love love this post for this: “All of them remind me that I’m a survivor. I can come out the other side of something traumatic with more strength than before.” 100% yes.

The roundup to the Roundup: Happy anniversary, Roundup. 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 June 30 – July 14) 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.

I don’t think I’m going to listen, but Serial Productions is tackling an IVF story out of a Yale clinic where the nurse was replacing the pain killers used during retrieval with saline.

Once upon a time, I would have listened, but treatment stories have been hitting hard with the twins leaving home, similar to the early days after we stopped treatments the second time. It feels like the time in between was a mountain that I could stand on and get some distance from those stories, understanding them and feeling a kinship with the women, but also far enough away that it doesn’t hurt. But now, I feel like I’m back in a valley. It’s hard to hear about cycling.

But I leave it here in case anyone else wants to hear it.

*******

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 to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

*******

And now the blogs…

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Life Just Goes On Without Them” (Bereaved and Blessed)

Okay, now my choices this week.

I had Bereaved and Blessed’s post for this week because I read it on Friday evening. She marks the two years since she last saw her father alive and how a concert led her to find a profound line about life and loss. This line made me cry: “Life does go on without them and I am doing my best to live mine with intention and meaning, one day at a time, while not taking things for granted.” Sending peace of heart.

Lastly, The Road Less Travelled tackles childlessness and religion. She writes, “Churches can be wonderful, welcoming places with lots of programming and activities geared towards children and families — but they’re not so great when you don’t fit that particular mold.” At the same time, they provide structure and community. Here’s to a future of organizations welcoming everyone.

The roundup to the Roundup: IVF podcast. 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 June 23 – 30) 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.

This is the 950th Friday Blog Roundup. Maybe not quite as remarkable as the 1000th Friday Blog Roundup, but it still feels worth mentioning because that milestone (#1000) won’t happen for another three years. Three years? How is that possible?

Because at some point, the numbering got messed up, and this is actually the 850th Friday Blog Roundup, even though I left the messed up numbering, which says 950 instead of 850. Still, I feel like I should do something big next year to mark the fake 1000th Friday Blog Roundup.

I wish I had kept better records so I could roll out all kinds of cool stats. But I didn’t. So I guess it’s just onward.

*******

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 to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

*******

And now the blogs…

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

Finding a Different Path talks about the benefits of knowing, even when diagnosed with PCOS. She doesn’t want the disorder, but the explanation explains so much. The same thing happened recently when she learned more about ADHD and realized that it might explain many things in her life. She writes, “There’s a lot to unpack for myself here. But also, it’s a relief. All the things that I felt shame and that caused me a great deal of anxiety are because my brain is different.” And later, “There’s so much power in starting from knowledge, even when it took 47 years to get to this epiphany.” Yessssss.

Lastly, Infertile Phoenix takes the term “spiraling” and points out how it can be a good thing. Spiraling can also move you deeply into something interesting or important to you. She is doing qualitative research with childless-not-by-choice individuals. She explains, “Instead of using numbers to describe things, qualitative research uses words (i.e., narrative data). Qualitative research can describe the experience of an individual or group.” It’s important work, and I’m grateful she is doing it.

The roundup to the Roundup: That’s a lot of Roundups. 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 June 23 – 30) 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.

I found the submarine coverage super upsetting this week, so much so that I couldn’t read the stories. When an alert would come up on the phone, I would delete it without reading it. ChickieNob wondered if it was because it was being sensationalized as they were counting down the hours of air left in the sub. Something was upsetting about that — to feel time running out vs. processing an event after the fact.

Because we were getting updates about a disaster in the making vs. hearing about it afterward when nothing more could be done. Until we learned that wasn’t the case completely.

Or maybe it’s because when air was running out, it sounded like such a lonely way to die. Like floating out into space. Being in this world but unfindable. My heart goes out to their families.

*******

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 to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

*******

And now the blogs…

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Change in Feeling” (Infertile Phoenix)
• “#MicroblogMondays: Neighbourly Reminder” (The Road Less Travelled)
• “The Right Pillow for the Right Time” (Finding a Different Path)
• “Broken Record” (Stirrup Queens) — thank you, Jess!

Okay, now my choices this week.

A Blank New Page writes about the feelings that come over us and what triggers them. She explains: “I try to see the moment and the good in it, I try to see the exceedingly beautiful moments of not being a mother and yes, they exist, out of question. But there is also the wistful feeling, there are the moments when I feel small, sad, just want to surrender to the wave, because yes, I miss my unborn kids. I miss family life and I miss being more than two.” She captures a moment of being happy to be part of something and sad, too. Bittersweet indeed.

Lastly, if you want to see a masterclass in making someone else feel awesome, read this letter on Grumpy Rumblings. A sample: “You are so good at seeing problems as problems to be solved and not as people who suck. And you’re good at helping others to see things that way too.” People want to be seen and known. This opening letter is pretty much perfection.

The roundup to the Roundup: Upset by the submarine coverage. 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 June 16 – 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.