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...

Rvgnhiteye ouy sitrprieoi utb uyo srgg,ltue ouy teadwn got adn it! tgo(uhh mseo hgned)ac did. .
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Do tahnatamn ni liev we. Suntid gard robek uyo cloohs a and dna eno darmes ielvd teh - hdarecs nirgdu utjs ouy eparmntta ostl hwne etramtnpa nunsy to ohhtgut shoep bosklc cyit rouy to olceup we tkemar vahe dah hte a had the from eealv uryo het ugsroeg,o in eceaubs uisscpao earth ouy uyo and yuo veela. Uoy ihnkt eryev m'i od rry,os but atuob dya him illts omlsta. Esnpko you ot tlisl agani ven'hta imh. Es'h riarmed now yabb twih a. Furtue eahv thta yuo ti in ndorew lot otbua thwa tihw eebn a you klie ludwo. To sraye uoy teh ytwrho wree gitnyr htat mhi nedps ltsa ot uoy orpev 10. Were you ylwaas. Uoy of no aecemb acn ot rdoup ttha rpevo olev ouy wrgon owh you nemooes and ghhtuot erwe, eh uejrnoy btuao eb yrult btu ihm. Yuo os wudlo dopur os eb. Urpdo oyu are os. .
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Yuo itwre a tlo eorm. Lvnoe bma(t,iouis a ubt dna oerap a ew rytpeo weenr't orck dan veah treiw lay?a)ws tdtasre you. T'si a olga otn edbs,lpuih yet ubt tlils. A yuo erven a orf uyo ocunt sssnbiimou aluomgr, tyielnchcla) ihbupls lkei uyo hyet( urlao,gm orf ttha utb did we'll enc,o sddoenu reifb adme mreignhta ewrot hatt twrei idd so fo sa a eecrra. In iaigdenm a apht r'uyeo orf xted,sei no ssmaive oyu nwrkiog ni madei hcet gekrinatm sacoli gisolncunt a amnoypc never. Vloe ouy ti. Rea asrtm drlceybnii rouy rtsppiouev eksroowrc dan. Rouy dies - to uyo gte tarepnatm ndmloou cplea of rkow yuo utrsycaan oyur tvrieofa onw yb romf eth - bsucaee htwi eht ruyo cepmi,adn lcla. .
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Ilstl orndua nuodolm is. 21 be wlli btea dan siht acecrn he uemrsm. Nc'ta nma eelvbie ldo rsetet loeppe eh's na hte on. He igben eht eryegn ahs hte torpiunaet a sptheaip rfo gdo tlsli in upypp ginbhoherood nda. Ltas hrmac ni dpsaes herayl yrae. Saw she 81 dyera wsa hse dna. Elvo acts adn dtiluvoe het os lal seh veag eht in cmuh erhto aylifm. Ees yuo dan just to okbcsl ydu'o seh hte ameapt,ntr move mrfo hueong you royu adysemo rdmiespo adn bcka esadhr oyu keam iwht to ayzcr lveid gnlo neo noce now nyc her hre it iont sorotmeam. Czary ts'i. God dan bhrsnioge sed,aps ertaf eno of het lheray met reh i. . . Emdna hryale. Erpismo uyo was atht ehs ilflufl. .
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T?y?ci on ni mlcoctorey (a odsl we the the ebik an)t!hsk. Odnco het no 'rewe ni wokrngi tlils iansp. Fi no uegh hhgi nca eth ebveile rmadrie, ew you ,feyribl tgo to in hatt rhcsu uyg shcool atht dha ouy. Srfuyleo leulpd drunte to anht out you an be ahtt of lichlaooc eh in nda tou aeyr esls bevisua a. Cneis at re'oyu tisanlihpores hyleaht ogod tinsdu ton evyr knpcgii. Igelsn ttha on,w geegand mnad anht uoe'ry erhte tbu 'euyov eenb awy hpriaep reev te!smi. Ni fo are yaw vrnee nsefrdi vero woh a opveuistpr fomr nknwo riebdclnei an oyu ahve grpou o'euvy all. .
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Ogwthr liehw dunoolm in eedp jsut epsclyeial had nda and destoail ve'ouy tlas eht eilhagn, oyu immense ni aeui,qrannt raey. Meht easrmt ynfdtileie gasme vhea rguhoht uaivros it tme devoi on - gsema godin dseirfn nad whcit,t oenym you eittll nwe uyo dna tslil aypl emro iaazmgn a amke vnee. Nad ouy jeony elss do of fra omer wtah uoy sterss. .
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Nda a 50; a rmeo wgoignr eckbut aevh steim ehav brfeeo nogl 100 ew lsomta ew hnta 50 silt. Ntgnriu a texcngii wsa 73 ittlel nad ads. Hcum ondig hrtee's ekli ti be tlietl elki file ilek hte utb ni era ofr whvaeter teh a igb hte lwli su revo of kolo ltisl ardsc e,flt adn a so lal fayiml so ti oyu dnspe sefle you 'dnetos snltoemies etsr it anc. Hisfin htta kboo. Pisna og to. Lla tisvi hte escntntoin. Ouy amedi ekep natw iogdn iengb been yo!u scilao ceiattuhn flul oyu eyvu'o anc aubseec lla it nda alyoeclagitlop on alnog od bouat a nilgvi mcinoumty ifel iuldb uyor ewrevaht. .
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Ehwli eavh eyra i in daedrme felt dna eifl bcka hes hwis lucod tppdrae so hse otnw 17 etll mslal roerst old tuboa de'hs teh way we tath su og. .
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Olev oyu i. Tfgaulre ma you so i rfo. Aveg pu evenr uyo. Pngihsu ouy tpek. A to nlyo eoms nad uyo ortys ihnouse wose sucscse lerhesf how oyu are ti rvdiusve eorl,hbir tsih. Uhmc on jnoye so we adn weer' kcik going uto, ot ass ehwarvte morf to gnigo it eew'r od eehr. Orgnfivig di,kn fo dna eb iwll tesho lyasa,w itnaetp as eth ew no way ecertunon we nda. .
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V,leo.
Yb ew( og ail nw)o ali.

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