Those 10 Years went FAST!

Peaceful right?

Hey Superhero! As I write this, you're about to turn 27 in a few days. According to my plan, by this age you should have been engaged to your best friend, editing Glamour Magazine and sipping colorful martinis at posh nightspots in Manhattan. None of that happened. I hope it never happened. That's not really who you are. You spent a long time trying to fit yourself into the box of what you thought you wanted, when really, that wouldn't have made you as happy as you liked to waste your time imagining it would. Now it's April 22, 2021. You're an energetic, accomplished 37 year old who dresses well, albeit a bit eccentrically, but not over the top. I hope you're writing. A lot. Way more than you were 10 years ago. You've published a book of poems, haven't you? I bet you're in the New Yorker all the time. You're probably a Pulitzer Prize winner or poet laureate of the world. I hope you're still riding your motorcycle (and that it's bigger and faster now and also that it's a personal spacecraft!). I hope you've traveled all over the world, writing, meeting people and experimenting with your life. Do we have a house in Spain? I hope we have a house in Spain. If we don't, get on that, please. I hope you finished your 30 Before 30, are nearly finished your 40 Before 40 and have written your 50 Before 50. I hope none of those lists repeated any items. I'm excited to see what you come up with and how 10 years has changed your perspective on life and what you want out of it. I hope you do nice things for other people every day. I hope Muldoon is still around. He'll be almost 12. Harley would be almost 19 now... I hope you know she loved you and that she never thought you failed her or yourself. It was silly to ever think that and I don't know why or how she got connected to all that pain, but she loved you in a way that was supernatural for animals to even feel. I hope you got over feeling like you disappointed her. You didn't. Ever. I hope it's been 9 years since you've even thought about him. And I'm sorry for making you think about him now. I bet Harley forgot all about him. He was never the man he led you believe he was and he certainly wasn't deserving of all that love and admiration you gave him. I hope he's happy with wherever he is in life, but I also hope you don't know whether he is or not because I hope you haven't spoken in... almost 12 years now. I hope you have no idea who I'm talking about! I hope you still play video games unapologetically and wear heels regularly. I hope you laugh all the time with friends new and old who nourish your life with love and culture and new ideas. It's probably as weird for you to imagine me, your old self, as it is for me to imagine you, myself a decade from now. I can't even see a month into the future! Anyway, stay awesome. Let go and take what life gives you. Take action to get what it doesn't. See you in another 10 years! Alison

Epilogue

2 days later

Hi Alison,

I was not expecting this today. You sure had a vision of our future! I'm happy to report that the best parts all came true. Not without pain...

Dna mseo uyo cd)aheng wtdnea i!t but oyu ntgiyerhve rtlgs,eug idd oiptsreiri ug(hhto you otg. .
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Ew vlei in od tnntaaamh. Ouy phseo ot you aemttpanr nad het edrams dveli sogoru,ge boekr lavee lhsoco ew nda itdnsu oen yuo ruidng het eht hnew othguth thera yuo ltso you dna vleae had het a mtaaeprtn edsachr omfr bklcos - market yuro rdag a itcy evah uynns bcseaeu ocuaisps ni uploec tusj ryuo ot ahd. M'i masolt tinhk ayd eevyr hmi utaob o,rrsy do siltl ouy but. Illst gania ot v'ahnet you mhi oseknp. Aybb tihw a hes' won amderri. Htwi dlwuo in what ilke ouy woredn hvea a it been lto atht ruetuf uyo outba. 01 alts perov ihm ot erwe oyu dnesp tath yhtorw to you gtynir asyer teh. You lwysaa rwee. Oenmoes thta uodrp be dan yrueojn ylrtu he bmaece ouy on r,wee ouy evorp mhi uyo touab anc love huohttg to hwo fo ongrw tub. Purdo be luwdo os os yuo. Urpod era ouy so. .
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A you tlo rmeo retwi. Tub ouy ew tiwre ocrk al?a)ysw rttdeas adn a ,io(uisbatm loevn nte'ewr ytoper nad aehv a eprao. Tlsil utb a gola nto pulb,eshdi yet 'tsi. But h(eyt yuo bonmsiisus onctu otrew ewl'l a enrev idd of urmlg,ao fiebr dnsuode taemhrign a for as os nltyca)celih terwi uo,margl a like hibpslu neco, uoy ttah hatt ouy rfo edam eecarr idd. Ni mntgkirae a htpa mdaei no soncuinlgt vsaiesm a giknowr ni colias reenv tdxsei,e nageimid monapyc rfo oeryu' you echt. Uyo elvo ti. Rkreswooc arstm ear uyor clibiydner uvoesipptr and. Yb whit uyro lalc teh yrou bscaeue fo uoy naatucrys ot uory tge uyo dsie nmaicepd, pacel rtieofav - teh amatptrne frmo lodnmou - wkor nwo. .
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Ldmnouo uradon is ilslt. Nad carenc suermm eh siht be 12 lliw aebt. Eivlbee het tn'ac tesert odl 'seh no nam eolpep an. Eht he ash god hrgbeihoodno orf a tsill tertanupoi ypppu dna the ingbe aephpist enyreg ni. Stal yrea apsdes in laeyhr hamcr. Saw asw 18 dna seh erdya esh. Seh oevl hmcu oetrh in cast so vgae myflia udliovte teh nda hte lal. Rshade the rsdeiopm she you uyro eohugn her yuo edilv amesody yrzac tjsu ot ouy ese gnol keam won o'uyd kcolbs erh morsaemot tmra,tenap whti bcka nceo eon it emvo to rmfo dna otni dan nyc. Tis' crazy. Efrta i dgo sap,dse niobgsher teh ylrahe eno fo mte adn hre. . . Yrlaeh mdane. Lluflif ormepis atht asw uyo ehs. .
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Kbie (a !tkns)ha hte on ?yi?tc oyrctceolm eht ew sold ni. No ilslt ni rogiwnk 'ewer cdoon eht iapsn. Im,aerdr uyo we het on losohc tog ni oyu rchsu atht nca ttha dah rye,fbli uyg ihhg lebveie if ot ugeh. Otu eusviba oyu of dtrenu in ahtn be eh nad coollaihc yflouers pleuld otu that to aery a na sels. Yvre ipcikgn at iustnd nscie oogd ton yru'eo teayhhl linaospeirths. R'ueyo et!sim wya that eevr pperiha ehert voe'yu aggdene ahnt dnam n,wo utb eebn linseg. Usptpvrieo rae lal who drisenf rofm na a fo ywa rveen nkwno veha niblecerid gorpu uyo over ni ueyv'o. .
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Arye ouy eedp niemems adn dsitaelo vue'oy in weilh ei,hlnag ,qiaaneurtn nda ni lepsliayce wrhotg atsl domlnou het dha ujts. Meka it oievd evne mngaaiz dan ginod tcw,iht rtmsae on frsnide gsaem vhea yneom emt ouy emro aply lietlt new - tghhrou gmesa meth adn sltli a iintldyeef you rovasui. Awht stssre fo yuo arf eomr nad yjnoe yuo od slse. .
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Dna slit we matosl stiem evha eukcbt veha refebo emor 05 05; nwroigg a 010 nglo we ntha a. Nnugrti aws 73 a niiegcxt dsa dan ttlile. Ehevtwar it hmcu eth tbu so gib iamfyl lesef sdcra a orf eorv ilstl dst'oen ti will os lla ifle dan eth teiesmlosn eht odgin are anc a te,fl oyu su eiltlt ikel klie uoy of ti in be lkie okol eesth'r trse ednsp. That insfhi obko. Spnai ot go. Eth lal tonsicetnn ivsti. Liudb lla ytlceiaglolapo ouyr ntaw tbaou gaoln oigdn ti cmuyntoim oyu od tnuectiah bineg demai ilgivn ebescau a eov'yu on and efil vherewta neeb ouy lisaco peek fllu ou!y cna. .
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Mllas in akbc old feli dtrpaep taobu og she emddaer siwh su nwot i 17 dna tath ftel eyar ew evha hielw ywa eht tlle sdeh' oertrs os udloc seh. .
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Voel i uoy. So fro i trugfael yuo am. Rveen uoy vaeg up. Yuo ptke uspnhig. Are it syort ouy nad nloy oems feslreh ihnsoue oyu a to ,bieorlrh vudreivs suesccs shti soew hwo. E'rew it mfro oyjen ssa weer' do os ot on ikkc ew ot wrtaeveh adn gingo uhcm eher ot,u gonig. Tpaient osthe alysaw, llwi as adn fogigvrni we knid, no yaw eth we dna eb fo curnneeot. .
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Olv,e.
Ali by we( ail og nw)o.

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