Abby Benson

Dear Matt Batt,

Thanks for asking. To be frank, I'm the opposite of bored. I finished my junior year just yesterday around 4:30, and I'm not sure why I didn't follow it with a glass of wine. (I turned 21 in April--yahoo for quarantine birthdays and drinking with the fam.) I have a couple jobs editing through school, and I do some editing/marketing work for my dad. Alas, I draw the curtain on school, and the work show must go on. I finish one thing, and I'm onto the next.

Like probably everyone in the world, I just wish I had unlimited time to do what I want. And I feel like this is as close as I'll ever get to the world shutting down and allowing me to do just that. I'd really like to organize files on my computer, write nature poetry, crochet, spend more time outside, exercise (who?), learn to cook, practice guitar, learn blues piano, and read all the books on my shelf. But instead of doing anything on that list, I decided people were important to me and took up sending hand-written letters to friends. Nothing makes me happier than a letter or package in the mail, and I wanted to pass that on. (I've starting tucking art in some of the letters too.) Self-isolation is making me realize I'm not as introverted as I thought, so letters are my intentional connection with the outside world.

I joked about not exercising, but it's not for a lack of trying. I sprained my foot in mid-April. I was sitting criss-cross on the couch for a while, reading for schoolwork, and both feet fell asleep. I got up, and when I took a step, the muscles in my feet were asleep and forgot to pull my toes back up. I landed on the top of my foot and heard a pop, and the rest is history. I never got it checked because (1) I have a high pain tolerance, (2) the hospitals are a 'rona breeding ground, and (3) if it was indeed just sprained, there's nothing they could tell me that I couldn't Google. I've decided I need a new story though. (I drop-kicked Chuck Norris? The leaning tower of Pisa finally fell and landed on my foot?) But I suppose there has never been a better time to have a sprained foot, so I'm thankful.

Mom and Dad still won't let me get a cat or dog (though quarantine is a good argument for getting one), my houseplants are now outside for the summer, the vegetable garden is going in early next week, and I'm happy to be home with my family and thus closer to my support system. We do a lot of laughing. The circumstances make me realize how much I have to be thankful for.

So that's how I am. I'm busy and sprained, but I'm grateful.

-A