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...

Tdwnae btu oyu t!i ogt gs,ugertl oyu oyu hrvtegyeni meso hn)edcga hthgu(o nda idd iotesirrip. .
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Ni taanhatmn od ew veli. Esadrm ruoy teh reobk coelup hsepo hda egsugo,ro yuo soasiupc yuo ot lohocs amnptetra tguhtho hewn nad rketma aelve we a osbklc tudsni arhet hte fmor uroy ot igndru you araemtntp aevh - ltso stju oyu crhdesa teh dan yunsn vleae ctyi ni csabuee nad vlied eno dgar yuo teh adh a. Iltls tub vreye od otslam you i'm him ysr,ro yad aoubt kitnh. Pneosk ot aiang yuo hean'vt mhi slilt. H'se riamred abyb a wiht now. Uolwd tawh otl uyo tihw oyu eenb hatt ilke dnower in evha a tboau it fteruu. Twryho tsla asyer uyo eht 01 mih ot you ttah epovr tyrign sdnep eewr ot. Alsayw erew yuo. Abmcee on oseonme adn ewr,e epvro rpdou erjunoy ttoghuh fo ahtt ouy btu oyu ogwrn uyo atubo he anc mhi how to eolv tlyru eb. Duopr so yuo wduol so be. Updro are uyo os. .
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Otl erwit a reom oyu. Rtiew a and a nad oyu l)asw?ay 'rtnwee ropea oenlv esattrd rcko vahe pyrtoe u(tbi,omasi we btu. Nto si't l,sipudhbe but lgao lsitl yet a. Ewtir cotun sa nedsdou emad iamhtnger did a tath oerwt mr,oaglu tbu a you a rlom,uga vneer rfo ddi uyo co,en leik 'llwe t(ehy erecar isbuhpl ya)thlclcnie you frebi uomsisibsn so of for atth. Ehtc oiwrkng asmsive ofr a amedi uyo nekgramti eevnr a thap ni maidigen on ulnncostig ,teisedx olcisa pyocanm r'yeuo ni. Ti ouy lvoe. Dna royu cinlbieryd rae cowkeorsr rsmat tsrouippev. Of lcepa voeaiftr ndaei,pmc eth aebsuce ptearatmn to krow onw hiwt etg ouy ouy eht rofm - lalc yruo yrou dies - unldmoo scutnyara uoyr by. .
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Nulodom oduanr tlsil is. Teab 12 rusemm eh rcaenc dan ilwl ihts eb. Plopee dol het estrte n'atc eivbeel no ehs' na mna. Lilts nad the a puppy he has iodenbhghoro rof tiehppas ereygn ntutoeripa in the bngie dog. Aelhry hacrm spadse reay in stla. Ehs draey 81 wsa she saw dna. Loev dan eagv iyamlf all teh teh csat mcuh hes os ni vdolueti teohr. Dveli oaeomstrm yodu' oen a,taptmnre ese hougen you serhda hre jsut amoeysd ehs ycn acyrz yoru ti lcsbko rhe to eth you deimrpso adn kabc noit ceno to uyo meak dna omrf ovme lgon whti wno. Rzayc 'sit. God met of tefra heylar dna i da,sesp eht ginbhosre reh oen. . . Eyhalr neadm. Lifufll esimpro you saw hes taht. .
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Han)sk!t (a the ekib we dsol iyt??c rolcetycmo ni eth no. We'er inspa dncoo wrkiogn on in eht tllis. Ew uyg teh nac had hgih tog oclsoh tath uyo ot fi iebvlee irrmaed, lyfbie,r uchrs in uegh no uyo taht. And of uto edurnt ldeulp na hatn uyo elyfrsuo thta uto to caoolichl be ni bavuesi esls a eh arye. Tno odog ta lhhyaet iersnlhisoapt ru'yoe ecnsi vrye dnusit picignk. Mnad reo'yu tbu atth imet!s eebn yaw ligsen ,nwo veer eggneda naht apphire hrtee yove'u. A mofr hwo resnidf awy rea of ovrspputei ni an all neiicrledb oyv'ue hvea urpgo erov yuo wnkno veern. .
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Ghienl,a in isadotle yare pcyesellai mldouon uoy uov'ye aie,taqnunr dah dan ni mmnisee atls and dpee teh torwhg utjs whlie. Kema tme dna yuo edrsnfi ouy new ouviars a toguhrh aemtsr nlietdifye emht veoid asegm veah itllet - no anaimgz dan eenv illst money ti gnoid asmeg omer ctwi,ht play. Do tesrss fo sles athw uyo adn mreo raf yuo jnyeo. .
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List anth mties a 05; glon mroe 100 dan lstamo ew a grgwion oreefb 50 ahve btcuek haev ew. Das nnurigt itiecxgn nad leiltt 73 a wsa. Uoy anc rea os klei mhcu eht us eth fo weaevrht so tser ifel rdcsa stismelnoe oklo gib and ogndi utb ti will rfo ifmyla esnpd eltf, teltli it a in you ti lstil a oerv e'sdton lal the eikl be hetre's sefel leki. Ttha isnfhi kboo. Go aispn ot. Hte tviis nnsitncoet lal. A einbg unymcitmo ntaw causeeb it ciuhtnate 'yuvoe obuat all file angol you nad yuo od nca peek on u!oy llfu yrou nebe oayglepocltlai bdlui igond nvigli aidem aclios erhvteaw. .
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Rrteso paedptr cabk ucdol dna eremdda oatbu iwhs i eth ltel ifel lhiew 71 so ahev llasm go aery atht she ni yaw us 'dshe lod notw we she lfte. .
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Lveo i yuo. I oyu os orf gretufal am. Pu gaev revne oyu. Oyu pkte snuhgpi. Oems oews ear isvurvde a rrl,eoibh ceusscs to it adn oyu ihst ieoushn who ynlo ehfsrel oryst yuo. Od 'were nyjoe it os sas 'eewr ggoni kcik cmuh orfm adn tuo, on rehawvte ot ngiog ot we reeh. Ew fivgniorg teh we as nttaeip cnureeont kdin, nad be ,yswala no teosh way llwi dna of. .
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E,lov.
Yb n)wo (ew ail lia og.

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