I Can Finally Talk About It

It's been awhile since I last posted. Just looking at our blog today I was actually surprised by how much time had gone by since I had taken the time to share anything that has been going on with our family. But there's a good reason for that. And I haven't been able to talk about it until now. In fact my younger sister, Liz, told everyone not to even bring it up if they spoke with me because I would start to cry. She's probably right. Those of you who had the courage to call and discuss it were probably shocked at how freely the tears flowed. But I'm ok now and can finally talk about it. In fact, I see the wisdom and the lesson in all of it...
A couple of weeks ago I was on my cell phone, and realized that it was almost out of juice. At the time I had been working on some things with my computer. Well, I gathered up my computer and what I had been working on and went in search of my cell phone charger. I had too many things in my hands, way too many things in my hands, and as I went to set them on the kitchen counter I dropped my external hard drive on the floor. At first I wasn't upset. But then later on when I plugged it into my computer I realized that it wasn't working. I waited and waited for the computer to read the external hard drive but......nothing. I tried ALL the computers in the house....NOTHING! I then "Googled" the situation thinking there was something I could do to fix it. I was so shocked to see how many people have dropped their external hard drives on the floor and LOST their data. I tried to remain calm as I headed over to the Geek Squad for some information. But they were no help. My external hard drive would have to be shipped off in the hopes if recovering any data. That is only after the possibility that it could cost $$$$$$$$. UGH!!!

Many might not understand the dramatic effect this could have on me. But??? On there were all of my photos, digital scrapbooking kits, ebooks, music, and most importantly my ideas and inspiration...Countless stories and journaling...My husband will quite frequently call me the "STORYTELLER" of my family. Because I am the one who takes the pictures, journals, videotapes, documents, and tells the stories. Not just of our immediate family but of our extended family as well. And no, I didn't take the time to make a second backup of all my work. How careless of me...
But luckily, most of the data can be recovered with little or no money. Because I have this...

And this...

And this...

And this...

And more importantly this...

Chances are I will eventually take it somewhere to see if they can recover most of the data, without costing us too much.
But for now I am determined to organize all of my treasures better than they were before. And in the process to learn and grow. After going through some of these things, ideas and thoughts have come to mind that have been buried for way too long. Maybe now is the time to pull those out and have the courage to share....
Lessons Learned:
Backup your treasures in more than one place! 2-3 places would be great.
Be organized!
Don't EVER carry more than you can handle!