Things in the what I don’t know category—what will happen with all of the tension in the US, what will happen with finalizing the election results, what will happen with COVID-19—feels much larger than the things in the what I know category, which pretty much consists of dinner tonight. And even that is not a given. I have good intentions to make ravioli. Who knows if I’ll be able to pull off boiling the water.

I’ve been declaring every weekend self-care Saturday and Sunday. I’ll be on the sofa this weekend with my pig, reading novels and trying to recharge.

*******

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.

*******

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:

• “Love Bats” (My Path to Mommyhood)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Anabegins sums up the heart of this election: It shouldn’t be close. And in some ways, it’s not. At least, if we’re to believe that things will change by the time the final votes are counted. It’s not just about voting out bad leadership. It’s also about all those supporters that still exist after the leader has been removed.

My Path to Mommyhood has a post about a term that keeps popping up again and again this week: manifesting. Once described, I immediately recognized it from The Secret and vision boards. Why has it made a comeback? I have no clue. Perhaps it never went away. Regardless, she is in a lot of pain right now and could use some good thoughts: “The body is real talented at letting you know when you’ve overextended yourself.”

Lastly, The Skinny Black Girl has a post that is… perfect. You’ll just have to trust me on this. (This line is like the perfect on the perfect: “My life fits in the palm of my hand and I like it that way. Because it’s never too much.”) Click over already.

The roundup to the Roundup: Living with the great unknown. 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 October 30 – November 6) 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 am feeling hopeful. Like the Magic 8 Ball says, “All signs point to yes.” Except, I have also read/watched Lord of the Rings enough times to know that you don’t turn your back when the Balrog is falling. You wait until you hear his corpse hit the rocks below or burn up in the fires before you walk off the narrow ledge. And maybe not even then.

I won’t relax on January 20th because the nightmare isn’t over—his supporters continue to exist. And if I have learned anything from 2020, it’s that there is not a point where we’ll breathe. There is just moving from moment to moment.

Election Day marked an entire year since I’ve seen my sister. I kissed her goodbye back in 2019 and made plans to see her in the spring. That trip was canceled. In a few weeks, I’ll mark one year since I’ve seen my brother. He lives closer, but our winter trip was stymied by colds and holidays. We thought we’d be able to pull off late January or early February. That didn’t happen, either.

I’ve stopped putting goal posts up, saying maybe by January 20th, maybe by a vaccine, maybe by the next midterms. I feel hope in this moment that we’re turning a hard-to-turn ship. And that is where I am right now. Because it’s all about moment to moment, not thinking anything is a given.

Josh asked what we were going to do today. On a normal year, we’d climb into bed after dinner and watch the returns with the kids. And that’s what we decided to do again, even though we know that we will likely go to bed without knowing the winner. Some information is better than no information, and it was weird enough voting by mail this year. Not watching election coverage would be even weirder.

I am nervous about the wait. I am also nervous about results and what comes next, after the results are in. So it’s just a big, simmering pot of nervousness, and there’s nothing left to do but wait and hope.

Four years ago, I was so excited for Election Day. Excited to vote, excited to watch the returns… I mean… until reality set in and Josh vomited and I sat crouched on the floor all night, refreshing the news on my phone because I couldn’t believe everything was really happening. I have none of that excitement today. It’s just my jaw firmly set, eyes forward, trying not to get carried away by any single piece of information.

Let’s get through today and tomorrow and the next day until we know, shall we?

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

*******

Most intriguing line I’ve read this week: “Over the past 35 years, MacNamara has read more than 8,000 strangers’ diaries.” She buys them online or through antique shops. She’s a diary hunter, reading other people’s private thoughts.

I went down a rabbit hole, ending up The Great Diary Project that has amassed 9000 unpublished diaries. They’re not cleaned up for public consumption, or written like a blog with a reader in mind. They are private thoughts that were tossed out by loved ones after a person died (or sometimes sold by the writer while they’re still alive) and ended up in a stranger’s hands.

I love this idea—reading someone’s unfiltered thoughts. Though I’m not sure how I would feel if my diaries ended up in someone else’s hands. Which makes me wonder if I should write up a plan for my diaries or get rid of them at some point.

*******

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.

I was talking to Leah over Zoom, and we were discussing what happens after the election is over. And I said, “Hopefully, we live.” And she responded, “Yes, hopefully!” But then we just stared at each other through the screen because… while I meant that everything will hopefully be fine—life as normal (or, at least, as normal as it can be with a pandemic)—it also sounded like we were entering the Hunger Games arena. May the odds be ever in our favour.

And then we mused how that statement sort of sums up 2020. Hopefully, we live. Hopefully, we get to the end of this pandemic. Hopefully, we get to the end of the political nightmare. Hopefully, we stop systemic racism. Hopefully, we restore families separated at the border. Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully, because the alternative is that we don’t live.

I am trying so hard to live right now. I am trying to plot out meals to lessen the number of trips to the grocery store. I am trying to make sure the masks are clean. I am trying not to scroll through the polls and obsessively think about the future.

Sending good thoughts to everyone for this stressful week and life beyond.