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...

Trhinygeev uoy stroireipi gto hdnca)eg utb uyo oyu emos it! ,tseguglr nda hhogu(t ddi ndtawe. .
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Ni mathatann ew od levi. A dha phoes unsyn icty eth - nad mrfo in laeev het adn vledi g,eosurgo nweh ouy evlea yruo het a amsedr rtamaenpt ot ttearnpma ryou hvae ew ohhgutt cbsueea adh ahsrcde olkbsc you ot one you hte sutj soloch yuo puleco opasiusc yuo nad dinurg dnutis areht tearmk radg tslo kebro. Auotb day do yuo tbu hmi m'i eevyr soaltm ys,ror lltsi nkith. Gniaa yuo anv'teh eoksnp mhi ot tlsli. Hs'e yabb own a readrmi hiwt. A nebe ekli duowl oyu ahtt whit bouta ni uuerft ti tahw onedrw tol vahe oyu. Lsat tath ouy hmi erwe to ntrgiy to erasy ouy 01 wothry snepd hte porev. Laywsa wree uoy. Eb wgorn oyu of you ordpu ebecma hhgtuto imh peovr tlruy on can ,eerw eh btu uroeynj utabo dan ot soeoenm owh uyo oevl ahtt. You ordpu os os lwdou eb. Ouy os rpduo aer. .
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Uyo eomr lot a etriw. Ocrk etpryo a eahv ywa?lsa) tnrwee' sdttrae btu we a,imou(sitb eorap nda vlone dan yuo a wrtei. Ont lsitl ubt ,shlebdupi oalg yet i'ts a. Tath aemd uyo tuocn so ltlnch)ciyae 'lwel a terow a ,ceon lau,orgm did as oesdndu keli arhngiemt rneve a frebi ttah lmoarug, rof uoy earrec rwtie did issbnisomu of but ouy (heyt biphlsu fro. Akrtmigne oyu orwnkgi a tche oeuy'r issmaev ngmdaeii eexsd,ti ni miead osclai npcaoym ofr atph ni a on uliocgtnns envre. Oyu it oevl. Aer oury asrmt ercowsrko dna reidlcbyni oepurtvips. Ovterfai eclap omfr allc eids yb eht - uyo - nlouodm of kwro uory ot onw bcseaue aenmatrtp ouy ruoy eht tysrcanau aecndm,pi yrou wtih teg. .
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Tisll dmluoon nourda is. Iths and erccna 21 ummres be wlil he tbea. Amn no na ehs' the eterts eeliveb cta'n dlo poelep. Sha bineg teh boohrgehniod odg a ppyup nda het for iapespth ni eh neeygr lislt tietpanruo. Sapeds ni eray chamr last yhaelr. Eyard she 81 seh asw saw adn. Iamlyf ehs eht lal gave os eth detlvuoi roteh hcmu stca and in eovl. Ocne iotn erh utjs tpmn,ratae adn mvoe uyo ti ieosmdpr cyn ouy gonl eht erh lscobk itwh seh and oyu wno see uryo udo'y tamsmoreo romf abck draehs medyoas yrazc akme eno divel geunoh ot ot. Cyrza si't. Ehr eht mte oen of elhyar i dsaep,s eohnsbigr gdo nad tfrea. . . Rhlyae enadm. Hse ipoemrs thta asw flulfli ouy. .
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Het we anh!k)ts (a lods teh ?yti?c no in trycloomce ebik. Snipa rokiwgn ocdno ni ewre' sllti no eth. Fi rmead,ir no eveelbi nca ihgh tgo efbliy,r hcurs atth oslcho gyu oyu adh ot teh ew yuo hueg in atth. Yuo rutden a tuo nath dna fo an puldle uto essl lioahoccl in he to reay seabivu ourslfey be ttah. At eyrv kniipcg aehytlh unistd ouyr'e ton seinc shtnsreploaii godo. T!smie ethre earphip oveyu' yaw oruey' nebe nilegs that anht gadgeen amdn o,wn tub eevr. Vore vhae na era in uoye'v you of ertpovsipu form wya opurg lal evenr nknwo a who snirdef bleniidrce. .
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Ryea atls ,rqnetiunaa dah yuo wlhei het dpee in ouolmnd nsieemm dna dan neihl,ga in lodeasti rtwogh v'euoy stuj aeslpilyec. Dyetniilef and yuo etm no uyo ti roem nwe ondig etmh mseag viode akem tlelti mrtsae zimanga tghuhro nad veah ylap neev dfiresn ltsli vsariou - egsma emoyn cthwit, a. Uoy oerm uoy tawh adn fo raf yjoen ssesrt do sles. .
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Foebre 0;5 aevh a nrwgiog 50 istl haev rome we nda ew btcuek gnlo tnah a lstmoa meits 001. Gtrunin sad 73 xtegcnii a wsa dan llitte. Ti teh tub oyu lfsee acn ilyamf eb a ti kloo vwraheet and llits ucmh rest fro lliw the us uoy a igb os giodn sedpn fo feli stenmsoile os all elik like in it etsehr' are etlitl fl,te ikle teh drcas evro eon'tsd. Isfhni ttha ookb. To apsni go. Vtisi incettsnno teh lal. Goanl ntwa lful scoial eepk ti uyro can ucntaeiht eifl oy!u uoy eouv'y egalcplilytooa all oyncmiutm btuao do udlib egibn a ngdio adn tehrwaev eenb ingvil ouy on diame beceuas. .
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Thta elfi in owtn tlel ckab og rrtseo flet eh'ds lmasl 17 dan drdmeae eahv ayw teh hes wish yaer uabto seh cdoul dlo so ew prdteap ihewl su i. .
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Yuo elov i. Ofr i uyo fultrega am so. Up gvae rvene you. Ketp yuo uigsphn. Yuo virvused nad loyn hsit sweo uoy rtoys to hlsfeer aer uscsecs a ouihnse seom i,obrrelh it ohw. Os we ot umch it do gnogi oyjen no erw'e ofmr dan eher ot erew' ogign kcik ot,u evtrewah sas. We be ywa lyasaw, i,dnk dna coeuntnre no tiantep illw dan het of nroigfgvi we otehs as. .
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Voel,.
Lia e(w by ial nw)o og.

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