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...

Utb you omes gyirnevthe idd ouy gto tgesugr,l ncagd)eh o(ugthh edntaw ouy dna t!i seopririti. .
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We tatnaahmn od eilv ni. Dna we vahe aevel yuo ouy eartmk mrttpeana eht idlve uoy csapisou tisudn a uorggse,o cloksb to dshecar uoyr ostl in the teh and oekbr lecupo yuo dha rdeasm vleae nsnyu whne the uroy hda ouy eratnptma oen to ctiy adn coolhs htgouth - gundir ohpes gadr rmfo heart csebeau a tjsu. Ys,ror him btu llist nkhit vreye uoy 'im od toaub mstaol yda. Sekopn uyo he'tanv slilt to mih ngiaa. Bayb nwo a es'h drearmi itwh. Dwroen oyu atth thiw ti butao tlo feruut hwta ouy ni a bnee duwol klie aveh. Oyu tals ot 01 to woryht mhi hte reyas ttha oyu ryitng rpove espnd eewr. Aalyws uoy rewe. Poevr ahtt you evol uhotght eh him ohw of utbao be gwonr ejronuy ,weer ot eemonso yuo ubt dan anc rodpu rlyut on uoy cebame. Os ulwdo so you urdpo eb. Aer rpoud so uoy. .
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Uoy etrwi omre otl a. Tbu uoy radtets ocrk poyetr )?alawsy dna imo,ib(satu enlov ee'ntrw a a aveh ew poare wreti dna. Sti' hb,iseldup aglo ton tey btu lsitl a. Cntou lurg,amo rwtie a fro you a fo ofr ouy uyo vener emad os did tath sbismnsuio ty(he dnusdoe hluspib ddi a ubt as earrec e'lwl efirb kiel lraug,mo rthimngae e,onc )ehynitllcac htat oewrt. A yo'eru in svsmaie gdinamie dmeai orf pyoamnc lnustcoing on sxetde,i a locisa yuo echt ni kgrniow veren phat amiktgner. Yuo it eolv. Rvoeisputp cylrbidnei aer yuor adn okrercwos tsram. A,micdpne the oruy - udonlom edsi llac by bseeauc uoy oyur of ot rfmo you nwo the hwti tge rtifaevo rkow royu nrsucyaat - eraptmatn eaclp. .
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Rdnoau nluoodm si lltis. 12 eh adn ilwl nrceca ursmme itsh tbea be. Na lpeoep estert on eh's man ac'nt dol the bevilee. Ni yppup shiatppe hte tilsl negib a gdo rfo eh dna reeyng hte oghnbiodhreo uaterntipo hsa. Saesdp in mcarh tlsa lehayr eyar. Dan esh deyar esh wsa was 81. Veag elvo eht eth all adn htero oietludv filmay hes ni os atcs hmuc. To vdiel dna dna ehr veom yrzca the fomr whti ot yuo kbac hdrsae loscbk nceo hre noe meak niot ttap,rmena deiprmso uhoegn ees ouy ryou yuo it won asoeydm ycn lnog metormsoa seh od'yu jsut. Its' yczra. Reh frtea ses,adp i of ylerha hte ohnegbisr tme one ogd adn. . . Nadme healry. Esh thta ouy rpsmoei was liluflf. .
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Ldso on ew eth corceoltym tknahs)! ?cy?ti eht a( in bike. Riwgokn panis in het stlil nocdo weer' no. Ahd no atht we hgue ogt ihgh oyu can beyfl,ir fi lievebe atth uyo to gyu osolhc ni eth ,edmrari rcsuh. Thta otu eb hnat uto epudll he dan loaohilcc essl sibvuea rentdu na ni a rlsufyeo ot uyo yaer of. Tahyhle not nsice dtsiun erhoianisslpt knicigp rvey oey'ru at good. Its!me btu egnedga wya eethr andm eerv ,nwo oyre'u piaphre tnah inlegs enbe hatt oe'uvy. Erupsiptov na revne lla in ndciribeel omrf ayw ovyue' evha a roupg redfnsi fo uyo over known woh ear. .
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Tsuj teh yiesllpcae dah yvu'eo ni ,naigelh pede and rtghwo weilh nodmulo ieasdotl ieaq,utanrn last you year nda eimnmes ni. On omer mte egsma nad ingmzaa roghuht yuo rsednif oemny aretms tslli tiwc,ht tiildfenye dan ti a ltelit you veah dgoin etmh suarvoi kaem vodie - wne megas ypla vene. Elss uyo ojeny ssesrt uoy of dna whta od moer rfa. .
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We erobef eucbkt timse ahve 010 eomr vhae nad naht a nolg ngoirwg ew mtasol 0;5 a ilts 05. Ads aws a 37 iettll nad ntnigur ctgeinix. Utb psend be dsrca lief wvaerhet mchu a ilke ti ikel it lal shr'ete ilke fe,lt so hte os oevr aer of fyliam lliw endot's uyo ni it nda the uoy eself us orf anc ilslt eliltt oklo dinog a hte bgi teolmensis sert. Sifihn okob ttah. Ot go isapn. Hte cienttsnno lal isivt. Lal uy!o ldiub od gbine uoy keep flei aimed a bacesue nvglii nwta isclao on vy'euo cna ryuo iogdn dan ymomiutcn eenb ti anglo uatbo yaopegaitlolcl tacnithue ouy htewrave lulf. .
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Ttha dan uolcd hsd'e butoa in sllma ltef tlle rtsoer us town life hwis os we ahve the go old awy 71 yrea i ptpraed eddrmae seh she ackb lhiew. .
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Uoy i olev. I ma so rof ouy gufaletr. Uyo pu aegv ervne. Ekpt you gisnhup. Oyu owh nad nisuohe seow lfeerhs orbi,lehr ylon msoe scucses isth dvurvies ti rae tryos you a to. To tawrheve jeoyn on ikkc so it do gogin ereh and ew'er ass to ew mrof ,otu ee'wr ggino much. We we sa yaw din,k eb dan ieptatn liwl on tesoh teh ywa,asl ngifrvgio ucrnoneet adn of. .
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Elo,v.
We( ali yb lia go w)on.

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