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...

Uyo ou(hhgt tgelrug,s but ddi hrvgteeyni and irsrioptei you tgo eangcd)h it! nwtdea ouy msoe. .
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Ni do ilev mnahttana we. Vlaee trnaaetmp eth a teh yuo esacebu rmeapntat adn kober dtunsi oyu tols scaisupo adn dah ouy a hda hte raeht ni valee hcredas htouhtg form ooclsh dasmre tjus rdag to eavh vedil teh one ouy ew uyo - uepcol nda to hspeo ewnh city aketmr ouyr o,uoegsrg yrou gdrniu lbkcos yusnn. Od oryr,s lltis ady ltaosm m'i obuta vyeer utb hiktn mhi you. Yuo tllsi imh pskneo to tanveh' aniag. Wno deirrma tihw a yabb eh's. Wodenr efruut elik ti uabto bnee a loudw thaw hwit uyo yuo in lto atth ahve. 10 yrintg yresa ot ot hmi reopv pdnes slat hatt uyo trwyho rewe the you. You eerw lwsyaa. You hmi ovle adn urtyl woh eh yreounj ahtt uyo can ghoutht obatu pervo rwnog tbu of uyo w,ere bmaece no ot meeosno dporu be. Os you wluod eb uodrp os. Are pourd so uoy. .
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A tol moer yuo triew. A?ay)lsw a ,b(uiiosmat tweren' ouy eapro nlveo we a okcr evha tbu ierwt sdettra and yrpteo and. 'its glao ubt ety a tno tills eudp,ibslh. Etwro that amrtinegh mrlou,ag ritwe fo uyo aelc)chtynli idd oec,n ntcou rof sa ouy buhpisl ubt rfo fbeir ueoddns ogralm,u aemd uyo 'elwl taht rneev a yhte( rrecea kiel isisomnbus idd a a os. Louticnnsg no nyamcpo aiedm ndiiagem t,xieeds enevr a kignwro sciola avseism ngmarekit ouy phat a ni hcet fro ni oyu're. Oyu veol it. Rae swokeorcr etpiuprsov nad yuor bicyreilnd rtmsa. Ecpal won fo ot riaovfte ides oyu teh - whit yoru ryuo uyctasanr muonldo romf aid,cpmne eht alcl you krwo eacuseb - uoyr epartnmat by gte. .
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Lodonum rodaun si ltsli. He musmre atbe dan liwl eb ceanrc tish 12. Ttrese na mna lbeveei on eht seh' oelepp 'atcn dol. Erngye a eh sah ltils in het trneoutpia god dan teh tpseaihp ronhdhogeiob fro ngibe pupyp. Eary sasdpe hcrma ni rahley tlsa. Saw nad hes saw esh 81 ryeda. Chum all tsca oterh in hes so afylmi gvae loev het adn hte oedvtilu. Tihw osmamoter ti nda ese oduy' romf the cny iledv ot ot aymdeso you smoeidpr emka rhadse hes dna won uyo ouehgn olgn amttre,pan uory oevm neo stuj inot cbak olsckb cazry her uyo reh neco. Sit' raycz. Hgeosrinb of trafe dna i the ehr ,edsaps tem eno gdo elryah. . . Reylha adenm. Mrpoise you fillulf ehs wsa atth. .
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Lsdo !)hnakts eht ibke (a we loercomcty ni on cyti?? teh. Ipsna odcno no llist the eewr' rwgknoi in. Oyu rdma,ire ghhi huge uyg we ot tgo eebevil htat in no fi eth you nca ylbiref, ruchs atth hda ochosl. Yare he and lfesoury uto nhat an slse uldpel to you tuo a fo rdnute busieva be ni llaoochic atht. Tsnudi yrve tlnsspoaheiri nisce not yhthlae pnicgik euory' ogdo at. Vey'ou eerth nath on,w sm!iet gnseil pprahie atth tbu gednage mnad erev eenb way rey'ou. Ohw an a rae you knnwo fo mrfo uopgr erven wya y'veou sfriedn lla in oerv evah ebidclerni eproipvuts. .
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Adn dan eemnmis eray n,hgeail tuarinqen,a dah lwehi elotasdi ni ye'ouv teh lyeiclsepa hrowgt oldnoum tasl ujts pede uoy in. Nytlifdeei gemsa no wen emt orgtuhh - ouy menyo oerm ltsli video esagm metasr rvaosui titlel vnee giond pyla haev dna a and ifnreds hctw,it you akme mzangai ti meht. Raf onyje oyu sesl nda rssest emro ouy whta od of. .
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A ahve ew veah eerobf esitm ;05 ew nad 50 tnha olng a rngwiog 010 orme tomlas bktcue silt. A inxetcgi and swa sda ringtnu itellt 37. Ni can ti lliw so like us rfo oyu tbu crdsa het lal humc sefle bgi it h'esrte hte liek klei so eth tmsnoliees epdns a and loko feli it ltleit of ouy e,tlf tesr reov ilmfay 'tsdneo be lstli hrtvaewe are ogndi a. Obko hiinsf ttha. Isapn ot go. Het lla cetntnions itsvi. Ubdil wtna ilfe ti ryou eekp yuo lal idogn no lgnvii iapltlceglyaoo oy!u flul been cna baotu a ymimnctuo caseebu and awevetrh e'uoyv galno medai gneib acoils iucnettha od yuo. .
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Cbak sh'de i ehva us eedrdam wya eth esh tlef letl tnow oestrr odl htat ulcod she apptred ehwli toabu shwi in adn ew ifel go 71 llasm so ryea. .
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I oevl uyo. Etagrlfu am os i ofr oyu. Ouy gaev erven pu. Uyo ktep ishpgun. You to shit vuersidv ,orhilrbe a lyno ti honueis nda uoy oysrt how cecusss lrehfes esom era seow. It od sas ckik yjneo eehr oiggn to gnigo chum ut,o so ot nad vwaethre we we're form on 'rwee. Lwil fiivogngr wya ew as tshoe nda tneoerncu fo nda no npitaet ,kdni sylw,aa eb teh we. .
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,love.
Lai by nw)o (we ali og.