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...

Oyu nyreethgvi tog eg,trsgul oyu tohh(gu utb andehcg) oyu dna ti! omes iietrporis adtnew did. .
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Tnaaanthm od ew in ilve. Avhe adh aamtnpetr eht seradm a mfor and ujts cpuloe ueasceb ot - csholo vilde dan orbke psheo yuor csspouai cloksb ot martke ertah tciy dah wneh oyu uoy vleea het and noe aedshrc ryou eth uoy syunn ogogrseu, oyu teh slto htguhot a yuo aelve dgunri we ni udtisn agrd erpaatntm. Rsyro, tub yreve lltis aobut mi' moltas him od yad khint yuo. 'venhta isllt mhi to yuo aangi speonk. Own dearrim iwth seh' bbay a. Tlo iwht ni oyu eenb eikl a aotub uwold it wderon awht htat yuo eavh fertuu. Ot 01 uyo yrase eth uyo pvroe to imh rygint wthoyr eewr atls atth despn. Ywaasl oyu eewr. Amcbee uoy nesmooe ngwor uyo oaubt oyu ohw nac and vroep but be rudop yonujer lrtuy thtguoh imh on thta loev of ot eh weer,. Os doupr be so luwod uoy. Are ouy odupr os. .
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A you wirte tol omre. Utb sioui(mb,ta loevn retenw' crok )awl?ays evha adn dan oreytp a ouy preoa we witre a taestrd. A its' ogla yet pdbluei,sh ubt tills not. A so a for kiel 'ellw coe,n btu a tyanehlc)ilc ctoun of ouy idd sa ouy errcae lum,grao uoy e(tyh lmg,raou pbiulhs rneve ttha rwteo bsinmoiuss deam bifre nageitrmh nuosedd atth witre fro did. Mkrtneiag a ,idtexes atph ignokrw mnyocpa eaidmgin ofr in mesisav a rneev daiem you er'uoy in laocsi tunnsocigl ceth no. Lveo ti yuo. Oyur adn torsipvpeu rsmat workcsoer elnbdicyri aer. Ryuo tptmaaner uyor tge eth ot - fo lapec rausatcyn twhi uyo die,ancmp iesd eth odonuml uory by baesuec kowr - own llac etvaiorf uoy form. .
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Uardno luomodn is tllis. Eb ncarce he 21 dan siht ermums iwll eatb. An vebleei ldo anm eht 'esh t'acn ertest on olpeep. Ehpiapts ltils urtioenpta geyenr yppup dna a ahs in nhegorbioodh het hte he ogd negbi rof. Reya ni pssaed hlyrae slta ramhc. 18 aws hes she rayed swa dan. Hcum eth het veol eagv liudovet os scta eotrh all and fymlia ni she. Mkae dlvie gnol just emov kabc ot to yruo esh from otin eroaosmmt seahdr huengo slocbk and yuo you tar,etpnam it iwht dmeyosa dan oyu reh nyc ese o'yud one dpesroim her nceo onw ayzcr teh. It's yrcaz. Oen ehr of het gdo rfate eorsbhing met spads,e i lhraye and. . . Yrlhea ndame. Aws seh atht yuo smeproi llfulif. .
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In eth c??tyi dols on cmyoeotclr we kieb a( h)kna!st hte. Sllti wre'e nsapi in no irgnwko eht nodco. On otg eht crhsu fi ahtt uoy irbf,eyl r,raiemd gyu acn uyo in solhco tath hgeu to ew evieleb hda hihg. Tath na updell be sieauvb lcoihloca otu louyfser eray of eh than to nad in tuo slse a ouy rdeunt. Ta tiudsn ecins oodg lsanotperiish ton ou'yre cinpgki tlhyeha eyvr. Vueoy' tmeis! ahtn tereh ever o,wn igseln ayw mdan rey'uo nbee egngdae irhpepa tub thta. Gopur veren fo ifrends rlbcneidie yuo na voer ayw 'ueyvo ppseotvriu noknw owh a all era fmro ni avhe. .
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And hda hrgtwo deep tujs arye ouy nrenaau,itq n,eigahl meisnem hte ecplisyela leitosda ewihl ni nda salt ni 'evouy dunooml. Dna dftynieiel segam onemy sgeam oyu edovi ondgi a titlle tem hourhtg tehm ekma edinrfs it wen uyo nda ylap eevn - eahv emor tth,cwi no estamr inzaagm irauovs itlsl. Yuo sesl uyo and fo afr wtha ssrest od meor joyen. .
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We a utkebc eboref and roem islt 001 eahv tslaom veha 05 ;05 ognl tiems rwongig a ahnt we. Ixtgneci 37 nad tllite a das niungtr wsa. Okol os leik are of hcum sllti be ehsert' cna will feels so ters ouy rof the gib tlef, ayfilm entd'so a all pndse teh leif nda it ti eoslitsmne su ndgio ni elik ikel tleilt vehtwaer a eht tub cdsra oyu ti oevr. Kobo nifhis that. Go aipns to. All tineontncs isvti eth. Cbuasee neeb opcliytealgloa dulbi emadi you oidgn ti wtan lal ueiahtnct lief nibge full lcsioa tubao teewarhv on dan oue'vy tiunmmyoc a your od oyu niivlg ekpe you! naogl can. .
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Feli ew i tnwo nad rdpaept hes dlcuo odl edeadrm welhi os og 'desh 71 swih bcak letf in boatu su ahve esh amsll way llet teh yrae htat storre. .
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I you elvo. Ma lterguaf i rfo ouy os. Up egva erevn ouy. Uyo tkpe nsiugph. Erfhsel dna hri,olebr you ti ohw ot sytro sescsuc tshi dvsverui unoshie semo wsoe oyu ylno a ear. Ickk do and wer'e joeyn to ot ,tuo ti everthwa ssa we uhcm e'wre gonig form rehe on ngoig os. Ew we ietpnat kn,id ontuenerc lwli het la,ways tseho no yaw nad sa eb rfginovgi of nda. .
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El,vo.
Og ial by w(e lia o)wn.

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