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...

N)gdahce idd ho(ugth nad g,erslutg i!t ouy tub uyo yreitvngeh rprtoeisii gto yuo smeo naewdt. .
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Do eivl mhanattan we ni. Eeval oerkb to haev dan to you dah omfr htthoug ntpetraam viled dna a oyu secuabe a loscho orgse,ogu ahd ew wneh pttanamre teh eth ouy olcuep ctiy drames csolkb udinrg hte epohs cuipssoa radg oen uoyr in sunyn uyo oyur dan ahetr dsehcra eth - uoy emktar oslt usjt sindtu valee. M'i inkth od mih r,oysr eevyr yad btu lilts omtasl atubo you. Giana nethva' enksop itlls hmi to uoy. Abby wiht esh' maderir a won. Ni athw rowdne ttha ouy a klei ahev obatu iwht neeb uufrte wdluo yuo ti lot. 10 voepr ot htta ednsp wrtoyh eewr yuo eth ot astl him aesry yuo grtiyn. Aawlys eewr you. Eb ornwg woh uoy nad mih htat nojruye eeambc oesmone anc uboat oyu urdpo he fo uoy oevrp ttgouhh rew,e tyrlu elvo no to but. So odwlu os udpor eb you. Era prdou ouy so. .
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Tol a ewitr mero you. Dan pyetro we nweret' s,o(atibumi nlveo a dttaers you rpaoe nad btu eavh a awa)?yls okcr treiw. Olag eyt ts'i llsit a otn ubt hsupide,lb. Wl'le ddi so rfo venre utb eorwt arcere ouy of ouy ttah a a ddi iosumbsisn a iefrb sa eadm lg,omuar ofr lm,ogaru rnthagime oyu plubshi ey(th ilek sudndoe atht nucot ne,co hecylainltc) iwret. Y'ruoe scioal eisvmsa uyo oilsnucgtn a ni cmnopay d,eeixts evern taph ni mrnaetkig iaemgidn a tceh no orf maeid origwnk. Ouy evol it. Rtasm oryu kwscoreor are iclibryend dan suptpoievr. Ouyr anetmrtap baseecu of hte egt aysrcaunt by - dise nwo with oumlond eirvafot the lacl lepca pdna,cemi work oryu - yuo ouy ot uyor mfro. .
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Dlmoonu lilts aurdon si. Etba 21 crecan smrmeu eh tshi be nad iwll. Tetsre the dol no an he's act'n vebeiel eploep amn. Negbi he spethaip ruteanptoi dgo in sha a yegern for the teh ltsil upppy nad hogioohnredb. In eray sdasep stal mhrca yhrlae. 81 hse swa dna aws she yraed. Esh nda the teh lla hcmu os in lveo hoter csta ilayfm itdloevu aevg. Nlgo hwit akcb neco eakm eaatmpntr, adn utsj uoy ycn oyu hse one fomr udoy' somaeyd to ti ese adn rahesd hre diemsrpo the tnoi uyo uoyr erh ueognh emov own to ommsareot evdli clkbso yrzac. Cazry 'tis. Fo i biosgnhre nda met hlryae one ogd rhe spae,sd teraf teh. . . Rlaehy mdane. Ouy atth lfifllu wsa seh rpmsoei. .
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Dlso no ?city? (a het het loycecomrt ni we ibke !n)sakth. No wer'e anpis itlsl hte ooncd kwngori ni. Uhge ugy ,miaedrr acn ot on if high ileeebv we you hda taht ruhcs eht ni gto oyu lf,eriyb oholcs hatt. Fo evsauib a yuo out ulseyrof cialcoolh raye he out htna in ot an taht rneutd eb lpeldu slse adn. Srhpoainseitl good tudsni cinse ta tyhealh ruy'oe reyv kipingc ton. Lgisen 'oyeur uoy've but semit! yaw aprhipe ever nw,o mnad edgngae atht rtehe tnha eneb. Na are in yaw of mfro uyo vrene drsinfe opsivpuert who lal enieldrcbi a vhea guopr e'yuvo konwn orve. .
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Yilpalesec in vu'yoe saeodlit hielw you ta,innaerqu hte ayre neimmse nelah,gi aslt just and eped roghwt and dah ni dmonolu. Omney letyifndie ierfdns dan a yuo - nidgo lapy gtrhuho ti on uyo ewn tllite tlils gemas edivo dan sauovri htw,cit vaeh meth sagem tsmera etm inaamzg akme erom nvee. You of sesl nda oyu fra awth omre do neyoj sterss. .
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Ew seimt a ehav ermo 50 ew atnh a utbkec ebrefo heav istl tolmas lgon wirngog 001 ;05 dna. Tiletl sad xciteign rngitun and 37 was a. Npeds ibg fo oolk tahrewev liwl btu os hte in tslli lmafyi the oerv eth lla stre dcras ilettl nca flte, eefls a a iekl nda ekil keli it nmelsesoti mcuh rea ti sode'tn nidog ste'rhe ti so rfo uyo uoy elif su be. Taht hifnis boko. Go pasni ot. Sivti lal onnttnsice het. Ouyev' oryu eifl on nebe iivgnl can all a lluf etahnctiu teaervwh galon yuo oidng uldbi aticallopyloge ebucsea eepk and amdei it uy!o tbuao do tanw nuictommy loiasc ebign yuo. .
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Ifle eray she 17 ehliw dmearde go nwto otbua su awy pdetarp hse eotsrr that os ducol mlsal telf i ltel aveh lod wsih in nad eth we hed's ackb. .
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I uyo vleo. I os ma uoy tfgreula fro. Evga vnree pu you. Sihpngu oyu tpek. Suseccs ot oei,rbrlh fselher yuo semo owes lyno thsi eunshoi ortsy euvivrds oyu who ti are a nda. 'reew ew're ofmr gnogi od ot o,ut it rwavehet to dan ehre we umch on kikc oyenj ssa oggin so. The eb no aylwas, we of dna awy iwll etatnip sa k,dni fnogigivr seoth nad we eutercnno. .
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,vleo.
Ail ial by go w(e wo)n.

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