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...

Tgo uoy you hvngytieer sgl,ruetg atnedw utb adn mseo did gthuo(h !it riiostiper you daec)hgn. .
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Anhtatnam ew ielv od ni. Ni leeav - and sotl auecseb yuo kscbol ytic rgda dha uoy ohpes uyo to eht a wnhe uhgohtt paarnemtt tremak eht adh yruo eaelv a stunid to ttnmeraap oohscl tsuj scdhare and rfom arhet hte edsrma oyu adn clueop rboke caopsius durign nusyn eht yuo groeo,usg oury neo leidv we veah. 'im loatms srroy, atobu tllsi yreev tub yuo day ihm do htkin. Ouy iltsl aigna ot kospne ihm evht'na. With abby e'sh own dmreiar a. Whit lot ikel obatu owrend atth ti ufuter wtah heva a ouy oludw eben you ni. Seary 10 ot uyo you to pndse taht rewe last vpeor imh hotryw eth gyirnt. You rwee lsaayw. Ohw tlruy eb eolv aeembc jenyruo to uyo eh mih nmeeoos tub gutohth odpur of gonrw wree, acn uyo ervop no uoy nda aotub ttah. So os ouy dlowu odrup be. Ouy so aer pudro. .
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Witer a moer olt uyo. Rkco im(taosbi,u aetrtds ?wl)ysaa a t'ewenr btu envol eparo ew rtiwe uyo nda dan a aehv tyorep. Itsll t'si yet utb a dhbsle,upi gloa ont. Idd you hc)alltyicne tub a dsouend mdea iwetr erarce l'lew taht like atth for envre e,nco of het(y bfier oyu os as oncut ddi amlogr,u rof a yuo imehtnagr mssoiibnus a bphusli oetwr ,rlumgao. Path nerve reou'y yuo a no cteh slcaoi imaeindg eist,edx inktgmrea inogtnlcus ni ofr in koringw iemda sevmsia a cnampoy. Levo it yuo. Inblrdiyec kroescwro nad yoru vipptruoes artms rea. Ryou oyu het uyro ecpla now mrfo the sueebca iesd oyu wokr by of nmaepttar ot ctranuasy get lcla uory hwti - mnuodol c,mdainpe vraeoift -. .
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Omundlo rnaodu itsll si. Enarcc this uesrmm he be will ebta and 12. Sretet on peploe eth lebevei man n'act e'hs dol na. Bigen tarpneoitu ptpiesah eht itlls boegnhirodoh sah nda eth eh ogd a pppyu ni ofr erenyg. Year hlayer astl psdsae ni camhr. Hse asw radye adn ehs wsa 18. She tsac imfyal uetvdoil in all os reoth nda eolv muhc hte gaev the. Ehr own eht ocbskl ohngeu imesrodp eon econ rhe ese uoy ydmseoa ruoy gnol dlvie ot ithw it dan iotn rmof nda you meka hdreas evom zrcya oydu' e,nmtatpar bakc ot uoy sjtu emmooastr esh ync. Zcary 'its. God rafte eon i d,spesa and fo eyarhl eht rhe renoihgsb emt. . . Earhyl deanm. Opiemsr htat asw uyo she lllffui. .
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Ta)skh!n eth on ylotcoemrc eikb hte ldos ni we y?ti?c (a. Dnooc ni on itlls teh kwginro spnia e'rew. Ttha no fi we bl,iyref veleeib thta ni shruc nca yuo gheu ihhg dah eth rrma,dei ugy ot colohs uyo gto. Yaer less lldupe oesrlyfu ni a vaiebus adn otu hnta to tou an be eh of udtner olcclohai tath oyu. Ustndi ta nto ioliteshsrapn oogd yver gnicikp 'rueyo ecsni altehyh. Ehert tbu way eebn o'yuev erev 'yreuo ti!ems aheirpp wo,n tnah egaendg htta eilsgn mdan. Woh frmo knnwo otspueripv nerve dnsfire of lla way you voer ni a 'yveou lcrinedbei na aer ugorp evah. .
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Ouy yslialpece eyar jtsu aetaqi,nnru wrhogt tsal ieloastd enisemm in ni yoeuv' and adh oloumdn hi,gealn adn ewlhi het pdee. Gruhhto osviaru gaesm noidg ylpa aemstr new a vhea and keam siltl mteh ioevd amzniag ittwc,h it oyu - uoy oyemn iltlet tme ifdsern nvee no eynidlefti geams reom nad. Fra fo nad od htwa sels yenoj rome tssrse ouy oyu. .
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Lgno mtsalo a ew stli dna naht 50 avhe heva refbeo a imets 100 ermo ucektb ew 05; wgongir. Asd 37 nad leltti a swa tixgneic nngtiur. Eshtr'e os het efil iekl tlils uyo edpns nac a it but el,tf eelsf ltleit it us rae rvoe fmyail so klei a fo big wvetearh oolk het srcda nelsmsetio goind ti lal lwil elik you rste adn for o'sedtn het uchm ni be. Htta kobo fisnih. Ot og napsi. Nnnitctoes lal viits teh. Uye'ov lgnao ewvtarhe ilef a od unymtciom aubot gnviil all on ouy dan !ouy uyo ullf iondg ctuethnai uroy bene ti pkee ieamd seeabuc oilsac egnib iuldb wnat acn alglloyeotcpia. .
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Vaeh ayre wnto taht mllas ew bakc seh yaw hed's us eliwh edprapt and lfie ni go seh swih srreot i ermaedd tuoab lelt etfl het 71 locud dlo os. .
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Vole yuo i. Rtgaufle ouy so for am i. Up veenr you avge. Pekt snupigh ouy. Oyu are lesfehr dna sccsesu who seow eivsrvdu tsih ylon to helrroib, otsry a nseuioh yuo seom it. Dan ssa yejno to ew do to 'ewre ingog eehr on mfro kkci os we'er it mhuc ahevwter ioggn uto,. Eb as igrofngiv adn patetni ohste eoneurntc ayaw,sl awy k,ndi on dna we het ew illw of. .
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Vle,o.
Ali lai (we go yb w)on.

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