1091st Friday Blog Roundup

My nibling’s camp allows letters — no phone calls or packages — which means we pull out the stationery every summer. I know I grew up with only letters — even phone calls were rare due to the cost — but it’s a weird sensation to write someone questions and know they will not be able to answer. Or tell them about something that won’t be important by the time they read it.

I also feel a compulsive need to confess all of my camp wrongdoings as I write them. Yes, I snuck out of my cabin at night. Yes, I made a phone call during the Harper’s Ferry trip even though it wasn’t permitted. Yes, I dumped tennis cans full of water over the top of the shower.

I am going to guess that my nibling is a better camper than I was.

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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:

• “The Last Onesies” (Infertile Phoenix)

Okay, now my choices this week.

The Barreness has been taking care of her parents, and it’s turning her world upside down. She writes, “I made a promise to myself recently (in the last three weeks) that I would like to try and have a relationship with my parents and not spend my time fighting, bargaining and being run over.” She explains how this looks in practice, and I feel like it’s a good post for all to read and learn from. It’s a very heavy situation.

Lastly, Finding a Different Path deals with some picture books that came from a baby shower. It is time to give them to a child who can read them, but it’s still a heartbreaking post. She explains: “They brought to the forefront a reminder of an alternate life, a ghost life that never fleshed out. I felt it viscerally. Not because I want that life or am unhappy with my life now, but because of all the promise those books represented, and the heartbreak of a dream unrealized.” Go give her a hug.

The roundup to the Roundup: Writing letters. 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 3 – July 10) 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.