Whelm is a word from Old English. Today it only exists in literature because it has given way to a supraform, overwhelm in regular usage. Whelm means to be completely immersed or submerged. It can mean to be hit by something and bowled over by it. It can mean covered, its original Old English meaning.
I have learned over the years what to expect in life so as not to be whelmed by too much anymore. One gets better at anticipating what might be surprising at a earlier age. Peoplewatching is like that too. One gets to be a pretty good judge of character, just based on a few words or actions, so much so that, really, only one person in all of life whelms me now, and I am whelmed over and over every time I think about or am near this person. It's ok. Life is really not worth living without this one's whelming presence over and over. I don't use the word overwhelm right here because even though overwhelm has taken the place of whelm, for who knows what historical reason, it has an added semantic that takes it away from meaning the same as whelming over and over.
I am lying down tonight, completely whelmed with thoughts of that one... again and again... over and over.
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