10 Thinks I Love About You

As an English teacher, I am working with 10th-grade learners to write analytical essays about various books that they have been reading. In the spirit of some of their essays, I will begin with a quote. Like some of my budding writers are doing, I will place it here, without context, and then walk away. You decide what it means to you, or to me, after reading today's post.

“I know you can be underwhelmed, and you can be overwhelmed, but can you ever just be, like, whelmed?” ~10 Things I Hate About You

10. I love you, Patacon, for your cuddles and company. But I have like one rule in this house, and I hate it when you break it. Please take your paws off of my pillow.

9. I love you, Sun, for rising in the east. And I love you, Shenzhen, for keeping so many factories closed so that we can see the hills of Hong Kong through a clear sky, rather than through the smog.

8. I love you, Hobbs Household, for bringing the fun.

7. I love you, Ann, for being the friend and collaborator that you are. Thank you for recording audio for "The Handsomest Drowned Man" -- I think that our SIS students are fortunate to have teachers sending all the love with all sorts of gestures. Craig, thank you in advance for understanding this office is more ours than yours. The future is female. The present is the future.

6. I love you, Brother Tom, for sending me the Vitamix. This is my first creation. I'm sorry that I couldn't have you over for dessert.

5. I love you, Cass, for cutting and coloring my hair. Getting my haircut was a little scary today, and I wished that I could have been sitting in your chair. The stylist did say, "Highlights very good!"

4. I love you, self-quarantiners, for choosing to stay inside. I am an introvert living in a city of over 13 million people, and now I feel like Goldilocks when she sleeps in brother's bed.

3. I love you, Silvie, for believing that you should come to the beach with me. While you are currently barred from leaving China, I am not, and so I must go, and you must stay.

2. I love you, Beck and Stone, for taking in my screaming orange and white cat. She does not realize that I have not sent her to get more teeth pulled, but rather that she will be at the kitty spa. She'll settle in after some time. Or maybe she won't.

1. I love you, Shenzhen, for putting all sorts of restrictions in place. I cannot see my friends much since we cannot enter one another's homes (unless we sneak). We cannot eat inside of most restaurants. But we can celebrate that in the past three days, the city has not reported any new cases of COVID-19.

So, as you can see, there is underwhelming stuff, overwhelming stuff, and then just the whelming. And that's my essay. I mean my blog post. K, ttys.