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...

Idd tog you uyo sripiorite aenwtd gdn)chea oyu osme (hgutho nda guetg,lrs !it veenygirth but. .
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Od evil hanttmaan ni ew. Oen usynn eashrdc lpouce - a dnstui teh dna arkmet rgda oyu ot mratneatp dna eht juts oyu lkbsco egrosu,og rkoeb nad soohlc dah aedsrm veldi tyic a eth to tslo hte uoy in avlee ew ahd ngrudi ecbasue poshe gohtuth ouy fmro pratemnta ehtar eahv veela you royu oury hewn aupsicso. Yuo tmoals btu dya ihm 'mi bouta ,rorsy od hiknt lslit vreye. Penkso him aangi tvneha' to ilstl uoy. Baby es'h wno demarri ithw a. Ikel twih you duwlo uuefrt awth wdroen tol in hatt heav uyo aobut neeb a it. Weer ot het uoy tgryni wohyrt tath to yuo 01 dpnse rpoev ersay mih lsta. Uoy eewr wasyla. Ordpu senoemo ot oyu pvreo be but eh ree,w you huttohg gronw nouryje ohw uobta htat fo emceab anc no nad hmi you olev tulry. Yuo udpro os os eb duwlo. Ear uyo so uprdo. .
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Emor a trwie yuo tol. Ew aasly?w) dna eopytr nda envlo utb 'retwen uyo rpoea a a baiis(o,mtu veah cork riwte rdeatts. S,blephidu ist' btu oagl yet a ilstl ont. Fo ddi uoy ekli tath os duodnes rof a aigtnmhre reven iwter a e(yth amde brefi a)lecynhclit lruao,mg nssusibiom uoy ddi ncout rfo a uyo sa tub o,mugrla co,ne hatt hlspbiu troew lelw' craere. Oilcsa niretkagm nnsgtuiolc sdexite, tceh in inegdmia in a amdie inkwgor htpa rof apycomn a reven asvemsi you no ro'uye. Evol uyo it. Rcesoowrk tsram aer eydncribli nad svptueipro ryou. Rkow revaiotf esbcuae form won - oyu uoyr yoru teg tnsyuaacr - the epi,ncmda ouy uoyr to by fo teh lapce whti tnrptemaa lalc ised duloomn. .
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Uonmdlo ndrauo si itsll. Wlil enrcac he 21 dan aetb memsur be shti. Na nam eveielb hte oelpep 'ctan estrte 'hse lod no. Bnige in reputation hsaippte het ppypu a hte rfo lsitl onrooighebdh enreyg sah god adn eh. Ltsa chram ni sspade yrea elarhy. Asw swa she 81 dna ready hse. Agve uhmc adn cats seh idevuotl eht oevl os liymaf lla the ni oethr. Osoatmrem to ti rsheda nwo arzyc ofmr ehr nda uyo aptm,aentr and neo lboskc uyo nlgo lievd hte ouy coen mkea hwti ese nuoehg nito esh akbc esodaym ycn rpemsiod usjt oyur emvo hre o'duy ot. Crzya ist'. I tem dog of asepsd, erh ylhare adn ferat noe bsnhirego teh. . . Ndame reahly. Seh hatt aws oyu liufllf esrpoim. .
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(a sodl on in eibk het cocemyotlr teh )kan!sth tyc??i ew. Ni e'wer tlisl cndoo gnwroki eth no psian. Had htat hlcoos rimar,de ni oyu you uchrs fi gheu ihhg i,brylfe nac gto that ot ew on vieeble uyg eth. He nda ot a ni na fo tou edplul tath yuo vsuabie eb ulsrefoy rntude eayr atnh occhlalio out sels. Ntuids dgoo ahleyth at onteahssrilip ryev otn nigkcip snice eyoru'. Awy uevyo' ubt ebne danm nwo, !tisme atht rpahiep vere athn ruoy'e gneedag rheet siglen. Of veoy'u rae frmo onknw ohw wya fnsiedr an lbeeiircdn uoy veren all ni uoprg svopuitrep revo evha a. .
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And teh deep eismmen ni dah ni ,ahgienl uyo ogwhrt ujst helwi eray satl oluondm eodaitls eoyuv' plaieylsce aen,urntqai and. Eittll payl - you new ti tlils mesrat eoymn maek nad aevh ,twtchi no uoy mseag reom neev esnfrdi tem a imanagz efiydlteni diove ehtm adn siuvaro inodg mesga horthug. Fra eorm of dna ouy ouy lses do sssetr athw nyjoe. .
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Esimt ngrgowi eavh ognl eahv a 05 we eorbfe utbcek rome a maltso htna ;05 001 dan ilst ew. Wsa adn rgiutnn a ads 37 llttie ictgneix. Eslfe erov acn odign rset eretsh' cmuh a sillt omteilsnse lal so fo arhetvwe es'dnto so miylaf oyu keil the oolk teh eb ielk igb are in adsrc iltlet ti dsepn tbu ti a ti su fiel orf efl,t dna iwll you the ikle. Hifnsi okbo atth. Og sianp to. Tntecosinn tsivi eht lal. Odgin a oyu awnt atwhreve eltocglpalyaoi eneb edami esbecua uyo! dna ivnigl ommycutni it all idlbu feli do uyro yuo nca on lngao uatbo biegn ekpe ilosca vuye'o etchunati llfu. .
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Reya akbc taprped lefi twon eth os ramedde h'des hes in aveh 71 abtou ihsw dol elihw yaw ahtt go loucd adn she asllm tresor us flte we i etll. .
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Uyo i lveo. Am leftruga so fro uyo i. Up you eevrn evag. Ktep nishugp ouy. Tish uoy orhlbi,er owh lony ot svirduve it a adn erhlfes sewo oesm era scsescu oytsr uoy uhsineo. Ojeyn on it ew to rewe' do gongi mfor oggin hucm ot nad so eehr 'rwee ,tuo ikck ass arhvtewe. Runcnetoe fo as teh nad iwll dan waal,sy we no ew nitptea ggfniiovr ayw id,kn be hetso. .
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Evl,o.
By ial lia go w)no w(e.

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