Maybe it’s a case of misery loves company, but I really connected with this Austin Kleon post. I am trying to keep in mind that everyone deserves a little grace right now. But sometimes people make it really really really hard to give grace.

When I hit that wall, I know it’s time to close social media for a few hours.

But I also loved his greater point: that we post things so we can connect with others. So we can hear that other people are thinking the exact same thing. That has been both the best thing and the worst thing about the pandemic:

Best: Finding other people who think the same way about being safe and feeling closer to them.

Worst: Finding other people who ignore the expert’s advice or rules and feeling alienated from them.

It’s connection. It’s lonely.

And then returning to that first point. Everyone deserves a little grace. Sometimes people make it really really really hard to give grace.

I don’t remember April Fools Day last year. I’m sure it happened; I mean, April 1st happened. But I don’t remember people doing stupid pranks.

Not so this year.

The pandemic no longer has the power to distract people from posting fake pregnancy announcements or online magazines from queuing up fake news articles to the delight of no one. I’m thankful we got a one-year break. If we did get a one-year break. I have zero memory of last April. To be fair, I was apparently very distracted by the lack of soap.

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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:

• “Because I Can” (No Kidding in NZ)
• “A Favour” (The Road Less Travelled)
• “Do You Have to Read This Blog in Secret?” (Childless by Marriage)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Uterus Monologues has a post about being torn between needing a break from childcare and feeling guilty. Which in turn becomes a musing on where she belongs now that she’s parenting after infertility. She writes: “I’ve found the transition surprisingly difficult and discomfiting – and, sometimes, brazenly painful. It’s uncomfortable, I think, because you find yourself empathizing with all angles, all at once.” I love this post because she gives space to something many people feel while parenting.

Finding My Plan B has a post about navigating life without a map. She tells a story of an actual walk that ended in a wonderful space, as well as the figurative walk of moving through life. She explains: “The absence of a map allowed me to experience the freedom of life the way I wanted to experience it, which may not have happened if I walked the route that others had mapped out for me, sound familiar?” It’s a smart reminder of the good things that can happen when you leave a path.

Lastly, FinallyMyLinesNow writes about the anniversaries that fertile people don’t have. They may move through pregnancy paying attention to milestones, but people pregnant after infertility or loss have additional moments they navigate. “Tomorrow, Sunday, I’ll reach 17 weeks. The last time I turned 17 weeks on a Sunday was October 2016. Zoe’s water broke right around 7 that morning. That was the start of a lot of changes in my life, my outlook, my values.” Send good thoughts her way.

The roundup to the Roundup: April Fool’s Day is back. 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 26 – April 2) 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.

I always have a moment in the middle of the Pesach seder where I suddenly realize that I am not going to have bread for a week, and I feel panicked because I. did. not. cherish. that. last. bit. of. bread. This year, it happened while the Wolvog was reading something aloud about maror. All of a sudden it hit me that I didn’t consume all the bread I could have consumed. I should have had a final cracker right before the meal.

We are currently in the middle of Pesach, and I only need to get through a few more days. But I’m haunted by the idea that I could have had more bread, and I didn’t.

I’ve been thinking about whether I’m better at making myself do things or refraining from doing things. Is it harder for me to do something I don’t really want to do, or to not do something that I want to do?

I think it’s do something I don’t want to do. Because sometimes I accidently do not do something I want to do simply by waiting too long. Such as having a final cracker before the seder.

It’s rare that you click on an advice article and find all three options presented in the article equally helpful, but it happened a few weeks ago.

I found it when we were coming up on the one-year anniversary of the pandemic, which was just a few weeks ago yet suddenly feels very far away. When I read it, we were still worrying in our state how to get teachers the vaccine before they returned to the classroom, but now, our state—like many other states—has decided to speed through the priority-group phased vaccine plan and open it up to everyone over 16 at the end of April.

I have feelings about this.

Regardless, our spring and summer will be just like our last spring and summer. We will stay in.

So I love these ideas: turning up the volume on celebrations and finding a low-stakes obsession. Ours is currently our afternoon, indoor walks. We have been walking around various cities in Belgium this week while listening to the Magicians trilogy. It’s a high point in my day.

Passing on the article in case you need ideas, too.

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

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This has not been a good month for beloved childhood authors. Hearing about Beverly Cleary was salt on an already raw wound.

I loved the article in the Washington Post explaining why Ramona meant so much to a generation. “Cleary took every attribute that girls were then warned away from — bossiness, brashness, hot temper — and she tucked them all into one character. And then she made that character into an inspiration.” Read to the end of the tribute. I cried with those last lines.

That sentiment—”being too much”—came from an older LitHub piece that was pushed out again this weekend. It’s a good goal to have: To be too much. I’m grateful to Cleary for giving girls a map to muchness.

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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 that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.