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...

Rsu,lgteg idd ogt gveehiytrn ubt uoy you pstiiireor and)cehg ugot(hh dna wtande ouy !it smeo. .
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Eilv ew ahtnamtna od in. You hewn haert a reoogusg, teh mneaprtta gdar adn you we nad oepsh atpnraetm eht your uyo and lveea unnsy dha to ycit eaelv uoy omfr bcsokl in ulpoec - dha teh pocsuisa ouy rnudgi cesabeu obkre one sahrdec sohclo rouy undits slto gohutht eth to ldeiv ematkr juts drsema eavh a. Im' ady lslti yrsr,o ubt od tlosam eyrev hmi baout yuo hktin. Illts ot snkpeo uoy iaang mhi na'hevt. Hse' whit rimrade onw abyb a. Atth ekli otl oyu ldwou nbee owednr hvea bouta in it iwht hatw uoy uftreu a. Iygntr 01 reyas trowyh ihm vorpe slat tath uoy esdnp uyo ot ewre to hte. Eerw waylsa uoy. Be oneujry tbu hwo uoy yuo htta he ohhutgt lvoe tluyr rgnow no can udpor senooem touab and to bceeam fo imh eopvr ouy ,eerw. So dopru ouwdl oyu be so. Os oyu ear ourdp. .
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Olt a orme iwret you. Dna wietr a tub ywa?s)la trsaedt buis,atio(m rokc have a olevn adn uoy we wtener' ypoetr oreap. Eyt s'ti gola sed,phubli ton tisll a but. Slpiuhb lwl'e weirt i)teacynlclh ahtt nevre ouy so sa e,noc a um,glroa idd sendduo eibfr tgeamnirh acrere btu ddi amed orf ru,lagmo tnouc a (htey fo a ouy muibossnsi atht oyu rof wrteo elki. Cnituslong eevnr pyaomcn easvsim ritmgenak a ni maeid wkrngoi uyo orye'u athp in nedaiigm orf on a isocla xtie,eds ceht. Ouy elov it. Otiruepvsp yruo nad rea rlieidcbny kcoresrow tamrs. Yraucasnt - - okrw the hwit ouy aesuceb yoru won oruy mludoon clal fo m,daincpe uryo dsei vorftiae epalc orfm raptntmea by het get ot oyu. .
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Lilts is rounda unmodol. Nda iwll 12 beta mserum he canerc siht be. Eth ldo ncta' no esh' an mna serett ilbveee lpopee. Dan rfo sha a rptaiuoent the ni eh hte renyeg egobihnorohd pyupp ogd spihptea bnegi ltlsi. Slta hmcra aespds ylaher yera ni. Wsa hes 81 adn aws yared hse. Ilyafm atsc tleiduov mhuc so ni adn ehs elvo all het agev eht etroh. Oyu ync it eth ehs ees ouy daemosy to ryzca oyur tmraesoom nglo hre own nad morf a,tnpmtear sujt slbkco gnehou noe onit meak bcak ot prdioems ovem velid eocn adhres erh and wiht 'yuod yuo. 'ist cyrza. Pd,sase dgo tfrae i het reh dan etm rhlyae goirnsehb fo one. . . Lyehra amedn. Atth hse ouy saw ifflull oerpmsi. .
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Ka)tshn! hte ylmrotcceo (a ew on dosl bike ct?i?y het in. In psani on nrwokig lslit rwee' teh nodco. Dha ni cna if we to vebilee the guy hlcoso you ,eramdir no efyb,irl ehug shruc htta got hihg you atth. Uto he ni of plulde a ot yeursofl eayr na ohlicocla you lses turden anth dan atth vaseuib eb tou. Ogdo suntid ta kingcip otn 'rueoy ehahlyt encis rlhineasopits rvey. Ensgil reeht ttha thna si!emt iherpap vree yeuv'o wno, egdenga e'yuro ywa mnda been btu. A eusritvpop erven of yaw rgpuo an from lal ahev oknwn rbilneidce era how in rove rnisfde oey'uv oyu. .
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Dna ni eaodtils q,inatenrau yuo rwgoht hda mnemies lomoudn yera e'yuov teh legna,ih plcyeailes epde ltsa adn sutj wlhei ni. Mkea gznimaa ti rome a ylap enve nyeom aehv ndogi eiodv dnefiyitle nda asmge tllsi dsnifer ictwh,t - on uoy viasour egmas ouy wen tem htem dan ohrguht lettli sertam. Oyu dna ynjeo elss rssste you hawt fo do oerm raf. .
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50; ew 50 adn roem tahn we a nlgo frebeo stil eutckb ognirgw a have eimst 010 atmslo eahv. Nunirgt dna iltlte a sad eiigtxnc was 37. Tres ilslt ntosed' fsele rae oyu lliw igdno so fo bgi ts'hree dnpse it teh eht adn fro in ti hawrveet lfayim eorv ekli eb can teh us itetll efl,t a a lkoo rcsda so it elik eifl keil ubt you all uchm ileestnsmo. Ahtt ookb snifih. Og to insap. Eht vtsii lal ocnnsnttei. Been on od pkee yuo uoyr tyionmmcu nawt gnivli all udlbi eascube igben e'youv a hveatewr lful ectanituh ogaln it yoalaitoclgple gnoid life ilaosc emdia uoy! nda you tuoab can. .
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Tlef troers ew eaddemr aveh flie ayre 17 she salml yaw ptaedrp esh ni luocd s'hed cakb otwn ttha ellt eiwhl nda su het hswi i autob og so old. .
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Loev i yuo. I ma so fro ouy rfulgtea. Pu nrvee egav uyo. Epkt nhigusp uyo. Ewso rlsfhee ohw it oyln hsti cssuesc o,eirlbhr to moes yuo tysro neohius rae ouy dsueivrv nad a. Ew sas we're it ingog kcik otu, gnigo yneoj to to mchu were' rfmo reewvath ehre so no nda od. We we iwll dn,ik and no ctneunoer sa teipnta nad of aal,syw teh tesoh way igrivfnog eb. .
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Elvo,.
Go ila lia e(w by o)wn.

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