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...

Tguh(ho you ddi ogt and wtenda !it esmo you ,rlguesgt but oyu )dceghna ipoieirstr vyrnhegiet. .
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In do ew levi nnaaatmht. Eno the icsapsou scklbo otghuht sgooeu,rg broek beesacu tjsu to hwen a uyo aatnpmetr rmtaenpta adn ngudir dagr valee eildv emkart - oucepl thear fomr radsme teh oury teh sdnitu to slto arhdcse vhea ouy adn and lavee nusny oyu yuor teh cloosh had oyu ni ew ouy hda ityc epsho a. Ihm yuo taubo i'm ayd lilst tnkhi od veyer tlosam yrors, tbu. Ot uoy giaan mih vnht'ae sillt snkepo. Baby iwht a wno eh's dirream. Oyu atth ndweor lto whta touba bene uyo luwod haev a ekil hiwt in utefru it. Thwoyr ryeas slat ouy 10 oyu rovep reew taht mih ntgiyr ot to hte epnds. Ewre swaayl you. He of thta ttohhug ohw rejnoyu eonmose ouy tub rowng eb on nac ot adn turyl mceabe you vrope wr,ee imh you btauo olev ropud. Ouy be so poudr dlwuo os. Ouy rae uordp so. .
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Yuo wtrie a orem lto. Trwei oprae a a ew but alay?)ws adestrt and and crok yrpeto olnev you siub(ot,mia e'etnrw ehva. ,dsulbephi tno lstli tye ist' ubt oagl a. Ernev ubshlpi recear os th(ye amgenhrit thta for rfo yuo uonct dame lmuagro, ddi gurloma, ikel otwer freib sa did of lclha)ncitye btu htat ssuboinsim eco,n a a uoy ewtir ewll' a ouy sudedno. Emsvias you ni cnmypoa renev olcsai in for amide a oclsngtuni nimgaeid ngmiaerkt oniwkgr etch no sdxeiet, a e'uroy ptha. Oyu evlo ti. Ear ecibdilyrn atsrm uroy rooswkecr dan oppietsrvu. Your get okrw het rofm - petntaram subecae thwi pd,ecmian omnodlu iesd royu ot frtevioa eht lalc of you oyu your - anytsaruc paecl yb onw. .
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Nourda iltls udnlmoo is. Aetb raccen be 21 srmume sthi eh adn liwl. Ldo eeleibv tetrse 'nact on mna an teh elpoep sh'e. Opitrutena sllti yeergn ofr ieorodhgnhbo eht genbi tphsiape he a dgo het ni ppyup nda sah. Tsla in aspeds halery eary charm. 81 and aws eayrd asw she seh. Het tasc chum amfliy evlo lal het esh os thore gvea nda ni teivludo. Eno ekma ipmsrdeo twih velid memorstao asdmyoe nad her to reh ogln acbk sdhear hougen eth coslbk yuo ti she jtus from ncy cyazr onw yuro 'douy dna yuo uyo onit enoc taeprnam,t oevm see ot. Caryz ti's. Of eraft hre seas,pd snigorbeh gdo nda i arhely the one tem. . . Layrhe dnaem. Uoy ffulill she wsa meosirp atht. .
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Kts)!anh ni i?y?ct odsl on a( hte lctocyrome kbie we the. Wre'e llits in kiogwnr coodn npisa no eth. To fi we oyu uyo eth hgih yug in no guhe htta thta uchrs tog y,frelib eblviee holcso cna remd,iar had. Ot elss olaclhioc terund be uto eolusrfy out a eyra nad dpelul anth fo ni an he eusvbai ttha uoy. Yu'ero dstuin at ipingkc niaelptoissrh ryve ont hehlayt godo niecs. Ntah ,nwo 'euroy mand ouevy' bnee ggdanee thta reteh lniegs tbu wya heaiprp vree iets!m. Eevnr lla sdfrnie over vhae toieuprvps in an are uoy a ibiedlnrce yaw of veuyo' mrof urgpo woh nwkon. .
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Trwogh tujs stla raiuten,naq in neha,igl and umonlod teidlaos vo'uey yuo ni ilwhe nad eth cylealpeis smiemne hda eedp erya. Eyomn sfderni dna - veen lltsi titell kmea met ievdo adn urhhtgo amgse a wticht, ouy it ermo nfiledytei magzian apyl mrtsae hemt idngo oivusar veah emasg you ewn no. Do fra mreo fo sesl you and neyjo uoy hatw ressts. .
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010 0;5 a heva mlaots tnha eavh we a oefrbe glno ew gigownr rmeo 05 smeit lsit keuctb dna. And das txiecgin untnirg eiltlt asw a 37. Su hte wlil orf keli uoy a it rewevaht fle,t rae oklo fo ikle os oted'ns lla you utb fliyma kile ni so estr a adscr ti hmuc meslsitneo and fiel be sfeel eittll big psdne rt'hees ti tlils can gdnoi hte rveo teh. Bkoo htat ihfsni. Og pnais to. Onntsenict eht tvisi lal. Uyo nca wtan efil bene dna uboat yuoncmmit aongl uory taerehvw a dilub mdeia on nhttcaeui cloais lflu yuo vgliin 'evouy cyalaiteogolpl all baueecs oindg kpee yu!o it do biegn. .
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Ihws us ayw go esrtro adn cudol wton i lod adreppt letl back lihew ni atoub ereaddm ftle feil 'sehd vhea 71 ttha ehs eth aslml we os ehs yrea. .
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Loev uyo i. So ltfegrua ma you ofr i. Evga veren up ouy. Uyo ghuinsp tpek. Ynlo a uoy uyo uoihsen cscuess thsi it oesm lberh,oir to frhesle nad swoe otrys edivrsuv hwo era. Hcum ot from ewr'e so nogig ti jnoye sas ,out do we no nogig e'erw kkci nda trwvhaee ot hree. Be dan iwll dni,k wya cneontreu on and iettpan we ew eht inogirgvf of as tseho asaw,ly. .
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Elov,.
Ial yb e(w go ial )onw.

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