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...

Yhrneeigvt oyu it! ddi eh)gancd and piostrieri sg,regltu ouy eosm enatdw got ouy utb uohhg(t. .
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Ni do ielv we amthtanna. Etntpmaar nad nweh unnys to - nda eth teahr we ot vlide dha rbkoe ugs,ooerg tohtghu ryou aveh hte hsoolc hseop rmof smread uyo uoy ouy gdar dan tsju ebuasce uyro eth lsot a coeplu ni a tiyc ngrdiu untsdi you elvea anptatrme mtarek osiaspcu neo dshcrea dah uyo eavel eth csklob. Ihtnk slilt tomlas mi' abotu yad evyer r,sryo imh do uyo ubt. N'vaeht gnaia to litsl pesnko mhi yuo. Hwit nwo a redarim yabb seh'. In leik ftureu ahve yuo otl uwdol tbuao htiw dronew taht it a been uyo hwat. You rgntyi ahtt aesyr to hroywt you teh vroep to weer enspd 01 stal him. Eewr you lyasaw. Ouy tbu htat on adn yuorejn were, anc be lutry outthgh olev ruopd woh uyo pover uyo mebcea to abtuo oosmene eh gnrwo fo imh. Lwduo os uoy prudo os be. So uyo rae dorup. .
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Uyo a tlo roem eitrw. We btu rpeoa cork nda typroe vahe nad elvno ouy a wnerte' ?lwa)asy sttrdae rweti a uobmit,(sai. Nto ltisl utb eyt a ,bheuipsld its' gola. A ,ocne wlle' thta uyo hmrgtiane eorwt made a ddi so cunto sa aeerrc ddi of uoy atht lkie btu rfo fireb puhilsb algmou,r alou,gmr iisbnmsuso ddosenu th(ey nerev a uoy riwte thn)lalyccei rfo. Htec yuo on avissem irgnwok olgisntncu miead fro mnkariegt envre agdnmiei aiclso a a ee,itsdx in uy'reo in apht yamcnpo. Ti uyo evlo. Tupiorevsp rsatm sokworerc era yrou and iyednclbri. Uoyr won ihwt get pelca okrw cseabue het by oyu nica,mdep of yuo rfmo lcal tfaervoi hte esdi ryuo your donoulm cyastuanr tmetarnap ot - -. .
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Si litls rnuaod ldmnoou. Dna iwll be accnre beta surmem htsi he 12. 'hse pelepo het eestrt eblieev mna ldo 'atcn an no. Dgo dna bneig a teaispph ofr ryegne ahs ppyup litsl teh ni teh he tprutnoaie obnrohioegdh. Atsl aeyr sespad rcmah in relhay. Saw hse hes nad saw yerda 81. Het ni vgae nda stca lal het rothe ehs veiltudo lmyfai so uhmc lveo. Atmp,nater duo'y etoamsomr olbcsk aemk ntoi eovm pirodesm ot dvlei fomr it reh hwti ese akbc ncoe ujst eht yuro ycn ryazc glon gunohe nda dan yuo nwo uyo oyu to noe reh eosdyam hes aerhsd. It's ycrza. Tfrae oen nda hte emt i ehr hgenbiosr lreyah ,ssdeap fo dgo. . . Raylhe eamdn. Atht ffuilll hse soperim uoy was. .
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Y?i?tc clroymctoe s!na)hkt ni (a dlos we no het kebi eth. Eht pinsa no 'erew ilslt oncdo in nrkwiog. Can we slhcoo suchr tgo ot in htta uoy hte ,ryefibl had red,amir if velebie hghi eghu no uyo that ygu. Ttah hlcloacio yuo in a year eb utdern plulde na soyfrelu of uto nda ntha ot he uto essl esvuaib. Oryue' udsint ryve alythhe otsaphnrislei ta ipicngk niesc ont odog. Se!itm nadm htta yvou'e oyeru' tbu endeagg pirhaep bene reeth veer tnha ,now ngseli ayw. Cbindileer ougpr omrf veren haev kwonn na fo ni topeirvsup awy lla rea vroe how yuo a ifrsend ov'uye. .
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Ilsedtoa yrea twrohg eped epsilcayle tasl adn uoy ha,elgni in het dan nqrnuaate,i iensmme ewlih ustj dolnoum ni had ovye'u. Dfitnyleie - a etm nad pyal dnogi even eatrsm iuvorsa aemgs desifrn manzagi hgohutr enw keam nda tmhe it tti,hcw smega siltl hvae eomr uoy ouy dievo money etllti on. Do of nda restss rfa ejyno omre uyo oyu waht less. .
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Feoebr tisl 010 we almsot ;50 estmi long we utcebk avhe nda a omre thna 50 ahve a gnwgori. Ngtinur a tteill nad ietngxic wsa ads 73. Denps ti a ouy tsre ti wveaterh us slefe uhcm shetr'e lla roev cna elik efil bgi lkei eisnsoltem adsrc in the so it eb yuo of lettil fyamli 'dntseo btu the os eilk oolk dniog a eth wlil and rof etfl, ltlis era. Koob nihfis htat. Nsiap to og. Lal eht stvii tstnniocne. Olgna lla od ehweartv closia and ubtao atwn anc einbg dlbiu seaubce eainhtcut rouy nebe ongid ctllaoelpgoyai iigvnl on ouy lfie a lufl it oyu voey'u !uyo ekep idaem intycmmuo. .
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Ni ertsro het su lod hatt hes dna fetl 17 ayw lasml ahev og ihlew dmrdaee twon she ew akcb 'dhes llte lfei ayer sihw dtperpa os baout i dlouc. .
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I uoy levo. Oyu am orf so teafrglu i. Enrve ouy veag pu. Ugnpish uoy ektp. Rseefhl cescssu rihorb,le tryos rae soem uyo hsti dan nloy a woh ouy ot it ewso sinoehu uerdvsiv. It 'reew jnyoe niggo to do out, os ssa ggoin fmor adn muhc no ot here ckik erwe' rhewatve we. Atntepi ew eb dna ethso eotcnuner no fo indk, the ew dna aas,wly as ayw wlli gvrngiifo. .
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Vleo,.
Ial lia ew( yb go onw).

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