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821st Friday Blog Roundup

We had a lovely little Thanksgiving at home. I made a ton of side dishes, a pie for Josh, and brownies for the rest of us. I started cooking on Wednesday, so Thursday was laid back and filled with Zoom calls. It was fine. On the plus side: we got a lot of relaxation in. On the minus side: we didn’t get to see family and friends.

Thanksgiving is the only holiday I don’t host. Up until now, everything has felt normal-ish as each holiday popped up on the calendar because I’m accustomed to preparing the meal. So the seders were kind of sad due to the people missing from my home, but I normally cook for days beforehand. So Pesach felt normal-ish until the actual meal. Same with Rosh Hashanah, et al. But we go to my parents for Thanksgiving, so I’m not accustomed to making stuffing and Brussels sprouts. At least, not for Thanksgiving. So no holidays off this year. The cooking train continues rolling.

I’m looking forward to spending the weekend reading with my pig. So there’s that. Though I’m missing seeing everyone this year.

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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.

Infertile Phoenix is missing her children. She sees a picture of children playing in a blanket fort, and she writes, “But suddenly, I felt a visceral longing in my heart and being that will never be filled. My son or daughter never got to be a big brother or big sister to my other son or daughter. They didn’t get to build living room blanket forts, play together, and antagonize each other. I didn’t get to hear them laugh and bicker. And I felt profoundly sad.” She takes this enormous feeling and puts it in perspective, making it manageable while still painful. It’s a lovely post about how to acknowledge grief and work through it.

Finding My Plan B writes about an amazing online retreat where she learned so much about herself. She explains: “The retreat gave me a place to switch off from my life, to stop and to hear … I went on The Bridge feeling confused, misunderstood and unaccepted. I crossed the Bridge realising that I already know who I am I was just too afraid to be her because of other people’s opinions.” Love where she ended up through this.

Lastly, Much Ado About Nothing has a profound musing on self-improvement: “But the mind can be a dangerous place, and I’ve realized I have a lot of things in my life I have never completely worked through, because I didn’t know how.” She is trying to come to terms with choices that were taken away from her, and she has set confronting the facts into motion. It’s a turning point post that leaves you holding your breath.

The roundup to the Roundup: Thanksgiving. 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 November 20 – 27) 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.

3 comments

1 Lori Lavender Luz { 11.27.20 at 5:50 pm }

I just finished a delightful novel written by an author you introduced me to. Kevin Wilson’s “Nothing to See Here.”

Your sides sound yummy.

2 Mali { 11.29.20 at 5:51 pm }

I’m sorry I missed this – I was busy cooking then attending a dinner of my own, with friends at their house at the beach. Not Thanksgiving, though we were appreciative of the fact that we can get together freely.

Your dinner sounds great – what a good idea to do all the yummy side dishes you all wanted. And dessert. I swear that on Christmas Day, most of my family (my siblings, parents, nieces, etc) would have been perfectly happy if we just had desserts!

I hope you had a lovely weekend reading with your pig.

3 Mali { 11.29.20 at 6:11 pm }

PS. Jess wrote a lovely post about missing something AND being thankful – it’s not an either/or situation. http://mypathtomommyhood.blogspot.com/2020/11/on-thankfulness-and-grief.html

(c) 2006 Melissa S. Ford
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