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...

Tsuggrel, (hotguh i!t did ieoirspitr got ncehd)ag uyo oesm uyo netdwa btu uoy nad htvigeyren. .
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Taanmtnah ew in ilve do. Ouy atemtrpan neo ohcslo rmatke uyor avlee in ot ew veael bslcok you form easrmd oyru gthuoht eavh levdi pcusosia had osgreuog, tols nda the jsut brkeo nnsuy nmaptrtae nda hraet ot upeolc yuo ahd uyo a hte raedsch eht wneh irdnug - a ebceuas ardg ouy ophes adn utnisd hte yitc. Tub auobt oyu aosmlt ltsil ihm do m'i vyere yda ory,sr tknih. Isltl vnth'ae eksnpo agina him to uyo. Imearrd s'eh a wno aybb wthi. Tufrue tiwh ahev eenb lowdu wodern ni uoy uoy aubot tol eilk htat ti what a. Iygrtn taht to tals uoy to uoy him sryae eth reew rveop 10 spedn tyorwh. Uoy aayswl erwe. Uylrt outba neyjoru be eh fo rvpeo vole mih mcbaee odrpu btu wgrno uyo acn you woh oghthtu on ee,rw omesnoe ahtt ot dna uoy. Os be uoy os udlwo rdoup. Os yuo rae podru. .
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Otl rteiw ouy eomr a. Roytpe olven hvea dna etewn'r dan yuo utb ew sattdre a orpae swlya)?a a o,(biimsatu cokr eitrw. A lago tye but tno isltl ph,udseilb ts'i. Fribe adme so eernv uyo ddi ,ormualg ddi ithnrgmae uoy ofr uyo e(hyt a otwer fo hatt )clhlaitncye iterw tonuc snddoue as supbihl ,rulmaog taht klie utb ,ceno a orf 'ellw acreer a isbsmsinou. Ni a in eevnr e'uroy a indmeagi fro iedam oyu imeavss tehc taph rkwgoin iosalc no omaynpc glnticsnou erakmgnti t,xsdiee. Uoy it ovel. Rea tarms adn yuor vsrppuieot decibyirnl rwsokcore. Aelcp get doomnul ofivatre to oyu eht ecuebas eth - lcal emnd,icpa kwor - traptmean ouy uaynacrts sdei ofrm yoru won ruoy uory of by htiw. .
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Si noduar udmnloo stlli. Lwil sthi dna eb ranecc he 12 ersmum ebta. The etestr nam no eoplep he's lod na eielbev t'nca. A god ngieb obghnehdooir ni he ofr ppypu adn itsll aprenuitot yeegrn eth the ash apteship. Rcmah in aslt daspes eray rlyeah. Draye swa and seh 81 seh saw. Oulteidv scat rtohe she milayf so eht avge all in teh chum and levo. You ane,amtrpt yuo nyc ot ekma ovme now tujs eon yzrac noti msoraotem gnlo hre bcak hwti dersah lsocbk oamysde ese oyu 'doyu eohgnu uoyr ti ehs nad her ot nda cone romf dmporise ldvei teh. Rycaz ti's. Eth nad aeds,ps fo hibnsogre odg her i eyrlha etm raeft neo. . . Maend eyhrla. Uoy ttha ulflifl hes erpimos asw. .
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On t!snkha) in the ew bike the ??ctiy lctcmoyeor lsod a(. 'wree no cnood hte ni sianp still rknoigw. To had cslhoo ,lbiyrfe cna in drmira,e the beeivle high ugeh oyu ygu fi hucrs tath no taht we got yuo. Hnat ttha otu an a uyo to he vbsauei nda eludlp uolreyfs hllicaoco uot yera lsse fo be rudent in. Eahhylt tndsui ta odgo ont cpkiing pniharsseloti cnsie vrye r'yueo. Tub etsmi! 'veyuo gegdnea wya thta eerv ,nwo nath ebne nmda reyuo' heert enlgsi ppihrae. How veern pirosutvpe ear na all rvoe knwon ywa frseidn of mofr ahev ndiblirece a ni upogr evouy' oyu. .
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Oyv'ue nda rwhtgo in stuj peed teh nda in yuo dha ntre,aiqanu weilh mnoloud astl eiemnms hinlag,e reya isealdot cpeysealil. Wen mkea mreats miznaga dfyitnelei ehva rhghuot uyo more igodn tme dnseifr deiov no th,ticw tetill a gmsea oeymn vriusoa emasg nda nda ti - yalp isltl ehmt ouy eenv. Fo oyu slse htwa od afr sestsr orem ejoyn uoy dna. .
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A ietms a ew hvea we 50 ofbree 010 and gnirowg ;05 ekbutc amolst lgon sitl veha htan ermo. Adn 73 tixengic trgnniu saw sad a tltlei. Wlli lal kolo anc nsdep erseth' it a of tvheawer be uchm it tbu eth ylmfai klei arsdc ignod vroe dna so ni tillet d'oents rea iefl a lfsee you hte for hte rtse ikle nseetsloim ,ltfe lslit leik os us it bgi uyo. Atth okob iihsfn. Og ot asipn. Lal sitvi tonictsnne eth. Olleaoaptcigyl ereavtwh lngao it deaim tihnctaue antw uldbi on a lal ou!y nac adn yve'ou yuo gnlvii ekep od eenb acolis gbnei eebcaus lluf feil oyu niodg uyimomcnt oyur botua. .
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S'ehd wihs she hse efil dtarpep mslla the go codlu ayw i ewhil otrres su ew eyra flte cakb ltel dlo taht nad veah so boatu raedemd nwot 17 in. .
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Oyu oelv i. Am i ertauglf you os orf. Ouy aveg enrve up. Punghis ktpe oyu. Hsti ylno yrtso ouy a ohw dna ot scessuc rae yuo ti siuervvd resefhl snhuoie omes seow rlroi,ehb. Weatrehv u,ot ngoig onyej to fmro muhc so sas kikc 'wree ot were' od ti dna we eher igong on. Kdni, be eotsh adn yaw eoncnurte het ew lwsaay, iwll grfivgoni as on and etitpan we fo. .
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Olv,e.
By e(w )won lai go lia.

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