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...

Ouy esmo you adn h(thoug tgo t!i utb eatdnw oyu ddi grtlgue,s cg)endah nygeethvir otseiirpir. .
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Eivl ew nmnahatat do ni. Drsame - morf dlevi ispcaosu usjt uohhttg naeratpmt vaele uoy tundis a dngriu kbore yuo and nyusn evah newh ouy yruo hopse eupocl seubeca kmaert dha ot ni we oeor,sggu matenaprt sraecdh dah dna dagr slot the the eth uoy bcloks oruy oyu ochsol to icyt eth nda aveel one ehrta a. Yuo utb osrr,y mi' veyer oatub ltsli osamtl ady od imh ntkih. Mih lsilt ot eavn'ht knesop ouy aagin. Ybba a onw htwi hs'e aimdrer. Wiht it uoy dnwroe in a wduol tol hwta bnee tath ueftur oyu uabto ehav klei. Reew ygrnti ayesr tsal eht ot wtoyhr sedpn ihm taht evrpo uoy ot 01 yuo. Aawlys eewr yuo. Be enoeosm ot oyu of we,er nca roenjyu drpuo uoy that gronw but mcebae hmi erpov veol obatu guhttho uyo no and he yrult ohw. Wloud podur eb os os you. Yuo ruodp os rae. .
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Yuo a itwer lot eorm. Retyop ,mobas(iuti adstert ?ysaawl) dan rapoe a we uoy rwite dan but a rkoc w'teern levno avhe. Nto yet a t'is lgoa euhdpsl,ib utb tllis. Fro fberi oyu os ce,no idd ouy griahmnet ttha eyt(h like ddi a oyu bulishp atth nucto retwi rlumga,o ctye)achllni dame a usbsimnios ubt ma,gloru veern lw'el rwoet fro sa of a usoednd ceraer. Namiigde uyo oy'eru see,idtx ecth niakegmtr rfo cpynamo on ieamd loaisc a a inowkgr ni ssaivme hatp nrvee in scoglitnun. It olve uyo. Wsooeckrr yuor aer rituppvseo stmar adn nyiiredbcl. Fo secbeua eht you frmo ondlmou ot oury - rtpnataem nwo calpe egt uyo kowr eisd sayuacrnt - rvaetifo ouyr alcl by hte eminapdc, ouyr wthi. .
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Omlunod ilstl arunod si. Acenrc htis 21 adn abet umrsem eb ilwl he. Teh se'h man rtetes viebeel na odl on 'ncta eepopl. Fro ltlis and in eigbn puypp haeptips dog ihgbonodhroe the has yereng eh the a tianpuoert. Ryae in arhmc alts healyr sasdpe. Saw saw seh 18 esh dan adrey. Tcsa so eavg hte hucm mfaily in and lvoe lal eth hse ehrto eitlovdu. Ofrm iotn cyn wno oevm abkc sutj ees it reh esadhr hse y'duo tmatraep,n ot edvli uhogen yuo cneo erh keam oen eht to cyarz colsbk oarsometm osrpdiem nad yuo oymseda uoy adn ouyr nolg htwi. Yarcz t'si. Emt i esbrghnio nad hte eno hraeyl ehr of dog faert ses,apd. . . Haleyr dname. Fiflull mposire thta esh uyo swa. .
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Yetcroolmc c??iyt k!)snaht the on het ew lsdo ekbi (a ni. Sinpa on ngowrik oondc lslti in r'eew teh. Rmaed,ir ttha ni tgo htat hhgi het ie,frlyb eibeelv ucrhs uoy fi you guhe oclohs ot ygu adh nca on we. Ioohalclc ttha you eupldl erya otu fo in he dna sels otu unterd an youresfl be a ot atnh bevsaui. Ton 'yeruo ogod vrey siecn at inutsd cgipink otinplireashs lytehah. Mtei!s bene lnsegi hatn reev on,w uoevy' awy tub ndma htere aegdeng oeruy' perphai taht. Orpgu vsoupeirpt rvoe rfdnsei ear all nevre ouy woh eicbinlred wya v'eyou na fo a knwon hvae fmor ni. .
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Adotesli 'veuyo owtrhg uoy minsmee ujts adn het edpe dan had ihg,aenl ta,nauiqern ilhwe eary plcaysleei ni in dnmluoo satl. Ouhrgth srfedin gamzian - eovid on liettl lsitl wen oymne emth arsetm amegs dietylnief tthc,iw adn keam gonid oyu dan enev tme it ouy sroaiuv a emro aevh play amgse. Arf you emro atwh noeyj lsse do oyu of and rssset. .
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Lgon wgniorg aehv rboeef lsmota oerm dan ;05 a ew 001 evha anht sitl ckbute 05 mties a ew. Dan das inugntr cinigetx tlilte a swa 37. Chum ofr a teh be su ,letf it 'sotedn can ti ni tub fo ttlile eth a all cdsra lilst adn uoy ear os like vroe big ouy ielf wlil ste'reh psdne ti klie imlfay ogdin teh esrt moesilsent so wheraevt lsfee lkie oolk. Atht sfihni obok. Go ot aispn. Hte iisvt ctnintenos all. Wtan yuo unmctmiyo it obuat a etwehvar uy'ove aecitnuth od idbul oury egibn cueseab uo!y oyu ufll oignd asicol oagln eenb kepe on damie nac lal lgviin and atcolygpleaoil ifel. .
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Draedme dna hwis lod go autbo vaeh so aery ptdepra i taht lfei tell ywa ni ehs hse su whiel akcb olcud 'dshe orrest eflt teh 71 lslam wnot ew. .
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Ouy i velo. I so rfo ma retgfaul ouy. Uoy up gvea eenvr. Puignhs ktep uyo. Ssecucs emso dan it horbrlie, era ot a inehous oyln sith hwo tysro rdvevius uoy rlesehf oesw yuo. Ot ckki on dan uo,t hvtaeerw eerw' ass ew so to it ormf gnigo do noyej ereh hcmu e'wer gnigo. K,ind adn on gvrinfigo we liwl eb sa a,wslya of awy het ruocetenn adn pttaein ohest ew. .
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Ev,ol.
Lai nwo) yb go ila (we.

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