Norton Juster died last week on Monday. The timing was strange because I had been having an email conversation with a new friend about Norton after telling a story about him in our Zoom book club. She had a connection to him, too, through her late husband.

I told her that Norton popped up in my life in random places, almost like a flag planted to let me know that I was on the right path. It was funny, really, because I almost always saw him when my life was at some sort of crossroads. But now that last time will be the last time. There will be no more magical coincidences leading to conversations or dinners together.

I am so lucky. Most people never get to meet their hero, but I got to see him multiple times. The last time, I brought the twins to meet him at a mutual friend’s house. I wrote a long journal entry about it, but never posted about that dinner. I don’t know why now.

I found this quote in it that feels particularly poignant this week. We were talking during dessert:

I asked him if it was difficult to be traveling right now for the 50th anniversary of the book, and he admitted that he wasn’t getting enough time to write. Time to write! The same problem I had been grappling with as I considered summer vacation and what I would do about projects that won’t be completed before the twins are out of school. And that was my moment; that tiny recharge I needed. The reminder that it never ends, that desire to have more time. That you’ll chase it your whole life on one hand, but knowing that, you can also let time go, be in the moment, realize that there will never be enough of it.

Rest easy, Mr. Juster. You taught me that anything is possible. And while I have thanked you for that on numerous occasions, like time, there is never a point of enough when it comes to gratitude.

It’s impossible to determine THE date everything changed last year, but in many ways, the 12th—today—is what many people in my area think of as the one-year anniversary. It’s the day they announced that kids would be home from school for two weeks. The shelves of the stores were empty as people prepared to hunker down.

But… this isn’t the day that I think of as the start of the pandemic. For me, I think of March 3rd as the anniversary date. It’s the date that you could no longer get Purell in the stores. I know that’s sort of an arbitrary thing, but that’s the point where I realized that I should get everything we need to last a few weeks at home. A bag of lemons. A few boxes of pasta. Some extra flour and butter. I made pancakes and froze them so I wouldn’t have to worry about eggs expiring. We were going to get through this, whatever “this” was.

Today marks a complete year at home. No in-person school. No in-person work. No in-person social events. No visits inside a home. I went from mostly paper books to mostly e-books. I went from no plants to an indoor herb garden. I walk in place in front of YouTube videos.

I’ve stopped believing this will be over soon.

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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.

Remember how I gave you a heads up last week that March 9th was a day of kindness? Kristin Fitzgerald-Zita has a post about it on Mindful. She explains: “There are lots of other things about me: I knit, I write, I live with an anxiety disorder … But in so many ways, ‘bereaved mom’ defines me because it’s the lens through which I view my world.” This is a story of impact; one that continues year after year. Please continue to do kindness in Thomas’s name.

The Road Less Travelled has the most thought-provoking post about how men and women approach social media. I nudged her to write it, and she didn’t disappoint. I am much more likely to silence than unfollow, AND I do feel a sense of responsibility in holding friend groups or family together. I thought this was such an interesting observation. Join the conversation over there.

My Perfect Breakdown uses International Women’s Day to encourage women to speak up about their health. Doctors ignored an issue for years, encouraging her to “just keep trying,” and she currently needs a hysterectomy. She writes: “Keep fighting for what you know is right. Don’t stop. Don’t let anyone tell you that they know better. As women, we need to continue to use our voices and push for the healthcare we deserve. (And education, and equal pay, and, and, and…)” YES!

Lastly, FinallyMyLinesNow has an update at 14 weeks pregnant, post-cerclage. I love this: “I’m 14 weeks now. Sore but not in agony. Scared but not terrified. Finally also nauseous, but not constantly vomiting. So, progress.” May things keep going smoothly through the summer month.

The roundup to the Roundup: One year at home. 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 5 – 12) 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 received the most amazing, thoughtful email a few weeks ago from the Royal Collection Trust. Mother’s Day in the UK is in mid-March (as opposed to the U.S.’s Mother’s Day in mid-May), and they wanted to know if I wanted to opt out of receiving emails with gifts and messaging geared towards Mother’s Day.

So simple and kind yet it’s the ONLY email I’ve ever received with this offer. American companies take note.

Brilliant, right?

Speaking of old television shows, CrimeReads recently did an article about the show Moonlighting. I adored this show. I was allowed to stay up later (to 9:30 pm!) two nights per week, and I always chose to stay up later on Moonlighting nights to see the first half. My mother taped the remainder of the episode—9:30 pm to 10 pm—and I watched it after school the next day.

Cybill Shepherd—swoon. Probably 90% of the content went over my tween head, but the characters made me certain that I too could grow up and open a detective agency. I was also certain that by the time I reached adulthood, I would know how to dance like the woman in purple because adults danced like this on television all. the. time.

[Aside: Josh just opened the door to the room and said, “You’re watching Moonlighting” the moment he heard Mulberry Street begin.]

I find it amusing now. What appealed to 12-year-old Melissa that she would use up one of her precious 9:30s? Who decided that some Moonlighting at night was safer than trusting the VCR to tape the whole episode?

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

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CNN had a piece last week about virtually opening locked letters. I was less intrigued by the software digitally unfolding the letters and more the concept of locked letters in general. It’s “a technique called letter locking — intricately folding a flat sheet of paper to become its own envelope.” The letter is sealed shut, and the person knows if the message has been read if the seal is broken. Just like a normal letter, except in this case, the letter is like a complex aerogramme.

(Aside: Did you ever send an aerogramme? I sent them all the time through the college years when email started to get popular.)

(Second aside: I didn’t realize until today that the post office stopped selling them.)

While it’s a clever way to ensure your words are only read by the receiver, the reality of sealed letters were they alway ripped strangely. And then you had to figure out what the ripped words said. And sometimes you had to remind a certain friend over and over again to stop writing right up to the edge.

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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.