682nd Friday Blog Roundup

I have a lot of trepidation around Marvel movies after Doctor Strange failed to live up to my expectations. (I’m sorry — I love Benedict Cumberbatch in many things, but he’s not Stephen Strange.)  But Black Panther managed to live up to and surpass the hype.  It is fantastic.

Wakanda is gorgeous, T’Challa is thoughtful, and the women are brilliant.  That last part is maybe the coolest thing: Even though this is T’Challa’s story, three women do the vast majority of thinking and ass-kicking in the movie.

We loved it.  And now I can return to waiting for A Wrinkle in Time to open because I. cannot. wait. to. see. that. too.

Have you seen Black Panther yet?

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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:

• “Ein Paar ohne Kind” (Elaine ohne Kind)

Okay, now my choices this week.

This was the most gorgeous article I read all week, and while it’s about the loss of his husband, I thought there was a lot of advice buried in there that is applicable to pregnancy and infant loss.  Especially this exchange with a nurse after his husband died: “She grabbed my hands and met my eyes. ‘It will be hard,’ she said. ‘It will be long. It will be painful. But you have to keep talking.’ That was the first advice I received as a widower. It remains the best.”  Please read the whole story.

My Lady of the Lantern also has a post about her child asking questions about death, especially about her sibling who died before she was born.  She writes, “Last night she was completing a class project and there she had to write names of her siblings. She had already written M’s name, and then asked me if she could mention CBub. Of course, she could!”  What is difficult for adults is approached differently by children, and it’s an emotional post about including your history.

Trisomy 18 Loss – Music and Musings writes about waiting for her ultrasound appointment.  A scan is never just a scan after a loss, and it’s a moving post about our experiences change us.

Lastly, In Quest of a Binky Moongee has a post about birthday wishes.  For the last few years, all wishes have involved parenthood.  And now that parenthood has come true, her husband pauses while the candle burns.  She writes, “He told me that when it came time for him to make a wish this time, he looked up and saw me, Bunny, and Okra. He did not feel the need to make a wish.”  It’s interesting to think about other ways to use that birthday wish when your constant one comes true.

The roundup to the Roundup: Black Panther was fantastic.  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 February 16th and 23rd) 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.