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...

Roertisipi h(tohug otg idd sge,rutlg you oyu t!i you and nyrhegvite tewdna ubt osem ean)chdg. .
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Od we in lvie tmtahaann. Caeseub we sujt ahd poceul eth ouyr mpnaetrta the othtugh ndrgiu eealv dah to eth nda the vhea ostl dna rouy orfm cboslk ecdrahs phseo gdra uoy uoy a aeevl emaktr uoy oyu ot newh anerattpm orkeb - ivdle a ni one ego,rgsuo sintud osipucsa dna taerh coohls iytc dmsrea unysn uoy. Btuoa uyo tlasom lltis tub y,rrso yvree im' mhi tknih od yda. Oyu istll nkopes ganai h'vntea hmi to. A rrmaedi iwth bbay won h'es. Wloud neeb ufrute ouy ahve thwa yuo kile olt nowdre iwth it botua atth ni a. 10 enspd yrsae trwoyh uyo rwee ot ropev salt teh ttha mih trgiyn oyu ot. Yuo weer ayaswl. Oesonme acn ouy becaem olve ylrut oprve atht adn ihm gronw of owh on uoy he tuabo upodr wree, yuo hthtugo be but ot jnryeuo. Dulwo os be uoy os orpdu. Oyu pdrou so era. .
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Lot yuo tierw more a. Ew ub,siioa(tm lveno dan ahev but and a n'etewr yopert dttsrae krco witer uyo )?asylaw a eaorp. 'tsi ehlp,bdisu not a tsill but eyt gaol. Rfo a fbrie sbuhpil cne,o rof sbsiusimno ddi so uoy did tgriaemnh mluaogr, tower atth ty(he oyu sa hatt dusdeno iwert fo a a uoy erenv ncout tbu cylhnce)ltai aecerr uaro,lgm keil meda e'wll. Mdiae sonuinctgl on agmniide a a hetc armigknet cnmoyap aisemsv oreuy' slocia paht rfo uyo ,eiextds in wngkori erevn ni. Uyo vleo ti. Oyur nad worrosekc are dcieriblyn pvitpresou asmtr. Oryu fo htiw - - nastrcuya you by iartfoev gte plcea orwk ot now form alcl uroy teh your idse umdolon ouy besaceu inmpae,dc hte nrtmpaaet. .
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Si onrdau olodmnu tslli. Be liwl he ebta smeurm adn shti eancrc 21. Na teesrt odl no mna ehs' hte lpoepe a'ctn bieleev. Ioorhdhnogeb nda ni tputneriao genrye for phsaitep het ppupy sah eht dog tllis eh a gnbie. Stal raye rcahm ni dpasse arhely. Dna 18 adery seh esh aws wsa. Dan idovltue ni ehtor the mfilya hte lveo lal evag so cats she mchu. Shdear moearmsot yuo it iont fmor ydo'u dan ese oen eovm vdlie jstu rhe symaoed nolg ehr cyzar to ekma ouy ncy blkcos abck noce enuogh aaetm,rtpn depmsoir yoru now esh ot nad you hitw the. Sit' rycza. Onhbesigr hre ,apsdse noe nad i of teh odg rhaley tem trefa. . . Erhlay ednma. Pmsireo ahtt asw fulflli uyo esh. .
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Olsd no (a we mreltoocyc teh ni a)nksh!t hte tyi?c? ibke. Ni noodc nispa eer'w wiokrgn tllis eth on. On ot you uehg ed,mirra ttah nac tath ie,frybl ni ghih if ouy guy bleeive had het tgo we ochlos rucsh. Ocloclahi tou lsse htan a of he uto raey ni baievsu ot ttah uoy entrdu nda elpuld an eb ufyolres. Gdoo onsrieisphalt at reyv oeyr'u icnse hyaleht otn gknpiic untisd. Tub egedang hreet w,on ebne epaphir wya hnat anmd 'vyueo lsgien eu'roy tse!mi veer atth. Of ouy rmof ahev aer a evyou' lal in yaw difsenr rpogu nerev nkwno stoirppvue eeribdilnc owh an oerv. .
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Ialslpceye trohgw immeens jtus eth uin,enartaq dloietsa ilewh ni yuo nad slta ye'ovu ni ahd doomuln naghel,i ayre and eedp. You uyo - emgas remo eiifeylndt illett ti ltisl rovuasi gmase vene nsedfir alpy inogd dan a no tehm ehav deiov ratsme wne ynoem tme nad hotrghu kmae angaizm tiwth,c. Oyu sstesr mroe dan raf lses of you od htwa oyejn. .
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;05 05 woggrni 001 eistm a aevh mlaost we tsil we nlog evha more hnta rfoeeb uktbec adn a. Dna itllte sda a was nigexcit ntnugri 37. Sfele lwil orf in it uchm lt,ef rove su so lkoo llist tietll pdnse teh het eb tenods' a it lla leki adn laiymf htwreeva leif godin yuo os are limtosesne klei ti nca fo uoy sdarc hte er'steh tser a igb kile btu. Kobo hatt hsniif. Go ot pasni. Lal snotncneit eth tsvii. Acn anwt eneb ecsubae hevrawte omnymutic otuab oruy full uoy! 'euoyv nloag gpaolotliaelyc no ogidn eifl od you ti eitcathnu lviing eepk adeim ildub nda gbein all a oyu asoilc. .
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Hwile taht het otabu og eyra rroste culod 'shed lfei kbac eftl llmas ltel su os i ddmraee dna ni esh shwi 17 we lod nwot heav eaprdpt she ywa. .
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Uyo oelv i. Orf yuo uragfelt i os ma. Uyo nerev up geva. Oyu piugnhs tpke. Ridveusv to oynl uyo esow mose how l,rerbohi ti scsuecs lesehrf nuesoih a yuo nda ihst troys rea. To cumh ot,u heer it rfmo kkic vtearhwe so to ssa adn on noggi we w'ere oging e'ewr do oeynj. Nda liwl and shote no riggnovif paintet we eht awy ,dkni we of nerocuetn eb asya,lw sa. .
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E,lov.
Yb nw)o ail w(e ali go.