Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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Every year elevates me to a new level of crankiness about April Fools Day. Yes, the fake pregnancy announcements were worse ten years ago when it was possible for the vast majority of my Facebook feed to possibly get pregnant, whereas by now, it sounds so far-fetched that I scroll on by without pause, but it doesn’t make the holiday any less annoying.

It’s hard enough to figure out reality without adding a fake holiday into the mix for the sole purpose of creating more confusion.

Bah humbug, or whatever the equivalent is for April Fools Day.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts connected to businesses or sponsored posts.

I’m not sure why CafeMom needed to do a roundup last week of all the times Anne Hathaway spoke about infertility and loss, but I did think the first situation sounded hellacious.

She was in a play about “an F16 fighter pilot whose career stalls after she unexpectedly becomes pregnant,” and every night after her miscarriage, she had to get on stage and pretend to be pregnant and give birth.

Night after night after night.

While it’s not a competition, having to go to work and teach kids when I couldn’t have kids myself was pretty awful, too. Still, at least I wasn’t the only person in a one-woman show, up on a stage with every eye in the theater only watching me, living out my otherwise for other people’s entertainment.

I first saw the news about the Baltimore bridge as a headline when I woke up at 6 a.m. I rolled over in bed, checked my phone, and clicked on the news alert. It sounded like the boat damaged part of the bridge, and I wondered if everyone was okay and whether it would impact traffic.

When I Googled the bridge, the first hit was its Wikipedia article, and I realized that it was written in past tense — as in, the bridge was no more. Someone had updated the article, already declaring it gone. It took more clicking to find a news article with the whole story and the bridge’s complete collapse. It’s unfathomable.

My heart goes out to the crew members who were on the bridge that night.

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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.

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And now the blogs…

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:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

The Barreness has a post about her father’s fall that changed all of their lives. She writes: “My life has forever been altered and spun out of control.” It is about how a traumatic event can change your life in a second, and my heart is with her as her family navigates this situation.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ has miscellaneous thoughts about aging without children. One interesting idea: Does having a younger generation in the house help you adjust to new technology (or, before computers, adjust to the new butter churn)? And what happens when a younger generation has taken you down the technology road and then moves out while things are still in flux? It’s an interesting topic.

The roundup to the Roundup: Bridge collapse. 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 22 – 29) 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.

We’re nearing the end of the first year of college. The twins will both be home this summer, working and doing projects. I cannot wait to see them daily, though I’m already dreading the end of summer.

You can never be too early!

Carolyn Hax gave advice recently in regards to a breakup that applies universally to all endings. She explains the difference between those who mourn ahead of time (me) and those who mourn after the fact (also me).

Some people do their hard work and grieving as the loss is in progress. They’re the ones who emerge from a wrenching breakup almost giddy with relief … they pre-care, from the moment they sense something big is coming to an end.

The other option: “Living more in the moment, so your grief-and-hard-work clock starts upon the fact of a loss.”

She does not cover those of us who mourn in equal amounts ahead of time and after the fact, taking a double portion of mourning. The clear message is to choose a time and stick with it.

In 2021, 2022, and 2023 (I didn’t write about it again), I received thoughtful messages from businesses and organizations giving instructions on what to do if I wanted to opt out of Mother’s Day messaging.

I didn’t choose to add myself to the “do not send” list, but I appreciated being asked. But I realized as Mother’s Day passed in the UK and is quickly approaching here that no one sent this message (yet) this year, though Debrett’s updated their post. I realize they still could, but it’s interesting that after three years of sensitivity and thoughtfulness, people didn’t feel like they had to keep sending the message of sensitivity and thoughtfulness.

It feels a little hollow in retrospect. I mean, the thoughtfulness felt real at the moment, but is the disappearance a sign of times changing? Did they receive feedback from people that they don’t enjoy being given the option? Or was it a statement they tested vs. a conviction to be as inclusive as possible?

Who is to say? I’m trying not to see it through a skeptical lens. It’s odd to receive zero emails after receiving several in the three prior years.

Did you receive any opt-out messages this year?