589th Friday Blog Roundup
As I said over on BlogHer, this is my least favourite day of the year. I know a lot of infertile women struggle with Christmas or Mother’s Day, but my worst day is April Fools. It’s a day that turns otherwise thoughtful, kind people into jerks for 24 hours. I hate all pranks, but especially fake pregnancy announcements.
I could write off everyone who posts something asinine on social media today and say, “Well, it is April Fools, and I know it’s a joke.” But here’s the thing: It isn’t funny. It isn’t funny to see someone mocking fertility (or in the case of the video I linked to in the BlogHer post, mocking adoption). It isn’t funny to wade through picture after picture of pee sticks.
So I’m mostly offline today. I’ll be on social media when I need to be for work, and I’ll read the blog posts in my feed reader since I feel pretty certain that no one I read would post a fake pregnancy announcement. But other than that? Avoid avoid avoid.
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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:
- “Thaw” (A Half-Baked Life)
- “Tick Tock” (The Road Less Travelled)
- “A Meaningful Life” (Lavender Luz)
- “Intensity” (Unpregnant Chicken)
Okay, now my choices this week.
Sad in the City has a gorgeous post this week called “Letting Go of Biological Motherhood.” A walk with her dog places her in the path of a child, and while the exchange would normally be welcome, it comes during a time when they have decided to stop treatments. She says this so perfectly: “I am mourning the lost bit of living I feel like I have missed out on.” This post… You just need to read the whole thing.
Anabegins has a post about applying the Kondo method to her life, which is brilliant. The idea of tidying up your time: “I suspect I’m spending my time and energy on things that don’t bring joy or utility to my life. I am squandering my precious minutes and hours on things that don’t matter, that suck away my joy and satisfaction and don’t bring me any closer to my goals.” I’ve seen more than one person this week trying to put this into practice. It is such a smart idea.
There is also Twangygirl’s post about getting the call, the one from the adoption agency. There is so much giddiness in this post that I actually got chills down both arms reading it. My favourite part: “Actual Baby is awfully, awfully sweet. The JB held him for three hours straight, until his arms hurt. That’s a kind man. And here I am, over Newfoundland, catching up with them, and now you are now caught up, too.” Go wish her congratulations.
Lavender Luz has a post on the third anniversary of her book about how the project emerged from an unflattering blog post someone wrote about her. She could have shut down and lost her voice, but instead she listened, considered, and reworded her thoughts. And what came out of that experience is something incredible. It’s a great story.
Lastly, Searching for Our Silver Lining has posted two very pretty pictures of herself, and it’s fitting that she is putting a face to an infertility story this week on a day when so many people need to remember that infertility affects real people. Have I mentioned how much I really dislike fake pregnancy announcements on April Fools Day? But I do love this.
The roundup to the Roundup: I really dislike April Fools Day. 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 March 25th and April 1st) 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.
11 comments
Today is my least favorite too. 4 yrs ago, I learned I had a completed miscarriage. And everyone around me is posting on social media about how many weeks pregnant they are in the name of breast cancer awareness. 4 yrs later and the scars are still very real.
Thanks for the shout-out. Though those images of me are not at me at my best, they are reflective of the current day-to-day. Scary to admit that.
This one made me smile: http://ahalfbakedlife.blogspot.com/2016/03/karma.html?m=1
Thanks for the shout-out (just realized I had a typo…that was not supposed to the a ?, I think I changed the sentence structure and not the punctuation!)
I am a bad person. I woke up my teens today telling them it was another snow day. HA! They have forgiven me (and they knew I was fooling them by the way I said it).
Thank you so much for the shout out, Mel. Thanks Cristy, too.
I have a second helping (I had two, but one of them was Cristy’s that you mentioned, too). Illustr8d talks about a different kind of connection that we used to have pre-Internet. http://illustr8d.com/2016/03/28/why-i-wont-rate-my-hotel/
I hate April Fools in the digital age. Because while I know today to be on the lookout – I hate hate hate when fake news stories show up months later and I waste time trying to figure out if it’s real or not.
Also, and acquaintance once announced a real pregnancy on April 1 because that was her 12 week mark and people didn’t believer her. 🙁
So far so good on April fool’s jokes. The few I have seen in my FB feed have actually been…funny. The local bus company is training some dogs to sniff out bus tickets to see if people have paid. Hah! A FB group I am in posted about someone who has caused many problems, been reported to the police, etc with a link of their profile and when you click on it, it goes to your own page. Hah! And then a kids clothing company posted about “sock-juice” that is a great recovery drink for kids. LOL So, I’m not traumatized today.
*hugs* to all who get less than spectactular “jokes” today.
ZOMG how did I have the amazing good fortune to make the second helpings when I’ve been practically mute? #lovetoyouall …
GAH published too soon.
But yes, hate April Fools day. Though I feel like I’m seeing less of the stupid thoughtless “joke” today … I hope that is a trend in awareness.
I hate April Fool’s Day as well. I’ve spent the day today avoiding social media, and only reading a handful of blogs that I know will be safe. It really is amazing that those stupid jokes can still sting after all this time.
Thank you to Cristy for the Second Helpings mention. 🙂 This one is slightly passé, as it’s Easter related, and it’s also faith-related, so it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I quite liked it. Especially the line that starts, “No one said to Jesus: ‘Oh, come on, JC,'” lol. Great point. 😉
http://saltwaterandhoney.org/blog/airbrushed
I didn’t do much social media yesterday because of that. I’ve been lucky in that I’ve never come across those stupid memes in myself own feed. I just don’t want to take the chance.
Gwen Stefani did it on Instagram. For some insane reason I read some of the comments…people trying to gently point out why this “joke” insensitive and in poor taste vs people screaming at them to get over themselves. Really ugly, but not surprising. Sigh. Good times!