1032nd Friday Blog Roundup

I’ve always been a solve-the-pain-of-losing-a-pet-by-adding-another-pet person. If you read back, you can see that we got Truman soon after Cozy, Linus soon after Truman, and Beorn soon after Linus. My heart hurts so much that my instinct is always to run and place that love in a new receptacle rather than sit with the pain.

But this time, I need to sit with the pain until the kids come home so they can be part of the decision-making process. That is probably a healthier way to process emotions. I still spend a lot of time thinking about guinea pigs and watching Beorn videos, but we will have a few weeks before we add to our family again.

We use Chewy because it’s convenient — pigs go through a lot of bedding — but we’ve become brand loyalists after our experience with Beorn. I commented that I had just opened a package of his medical feed a few hours before he died, and the Wolvog told me that if I let Chewy know, they would refund perishables. So Josh let Chewy know, and they refunded the order and sent flowers and a note. Who does that? A business that lives by its values and puts animals first.

I’m grateful to everyone who commented here or on Facebook. I have been very lonely this week. It helps to know other people are thinking about him, too.

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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.

And now the blogs…

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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:

• “18 Years in 18 Words” (Bereaved and Blessed)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Swistle opens her comment section for “restorative complaining.” She explains, “This, combined with the significant knee-recovery setback, combined with the absolutely execrable U.S. government and its daily doses of excrement, has led me into a bit of a Misery Era.” Misery Era pretty accurate describes this time, and sometimes you need to vent it out.

All and Sundry gives an update that includes the loss of her cat. I think when you lose a pet, your eye is drawn to anyone else mentioning they lost a pet. But this is also a lovely post about hospice and the importance of being there at an end. This part stayed with me all week: “I miss her so much and I miss how we would love her together as a family, you know what I mean if you have family pets. The love you shower onto the pets is also shared love, maybe a way to show love among each other that’s easier when you’re a teenager or even grumpy-feeling spouses. I love you Callie is also I love us.” Go over and read the whole post.

I also marked Bereaved and Blessed’s 18 years in 18 words. Congratulations on reaching this enormous milestone.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ is slowing down (not stopping) blogging because she has a lot on her plate at the moment. She explains, “Because there’s a lot going on in my head at the moment, and I don’t want to write it all down for public consumption. And it’s hard thinking of topics to write about when my every thought is about another issue.” Sending her a lot of love.

The roundup to the Roundup: I miss my sweet pig. 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 April 11 – April 18) 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.