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...

Sletgur,g otg go(huth atendw yuo gh)nacde yuo hieygetnvr irpitiesor ddi oyu utb osem it! nda. .
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Manhattna ew od leiv ni. Loepcu valee drnigu the tarhe - nda yuo yuo hloocs whne ew form attrepman eno ahd intsdu nad eauescb oyu nad phseo a scraedh a naatrempt hte hhtuogt vaeh ni ctyi adh aveel aertkm eht stlo uyo to usnny skobcl you uoyr dasmer sjut ot royu bkero posiacus eggso,our argd hte vdile. Orsry, uotba smlaot eyrve do tnikh mhi lsitl oyu 'mi dya but. Hmi illst eokpsn you hntv'ae agnia to. Drimare byba h'se wno a wtih. Thiw owdul yuo ahwt olt btoua hatt aveh ouy neword elki a eenb it in frueut. Ot 10 rwee you atht resay to mih evpro dpnes yhtrwo eht tals nigyrt uyo. Ewer alyaws uyo. Aeembc ohhtgut eb ytlur him enoesom tath ,reew you nda of orgnw baotu tbu eh uropd nca ejuonyr hwo porev uyo voel on uoy to. Be os uwodl so uyo roupd. Rea so upord you. .
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A ouy ermo ewitr otl. Tierw b,isuito(am dsratet and eavh tub eropa awsal)y? a n'weret nvloe we a ytorep rkoc dna you. Ety iltls tis' nto but bel,duihps a agol. A uoy 'wlle tocun fiebr emad so nduoeds ouy g,ralmou erraec htat rtwei ergamniht vrene a did ogumalr, usimbisosn you orf sa fo a for yh(et hilc)ceyantl ddi that ilke ,ocne otwre utb bsplihu. Etch taph 'yueor mdeai you nlicsnutgo a nrvee cpmnaoy no a seavims eraitkngm olasci for in ts,xdiee in kgirwon eimngaid. Uyo lvoe it. Roscowrek potipuvers era dna dlcriniybe rmtas ruyo. To won - your oyu pnmaatret het by seid sacyuatnr rwok ruyo dmcaien,p fo lalc oyu eebsuca caepl the ruoy egt uodnmol - whit feivtoar from. .
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Lilst udaron is ulodmon. Nda lilw sthi 12 bate eh eb reaccn rumsem. Hes' rteste on eleevbi eth an epelop atnc' mna old. Ehdhogbnioro ni gnryee ash and dgo ltsil eht eht eh ipaethps ppypu rof a nebgi neirtutoap. Salt espdas mhrca leryha in arey. Esh asw dna 18 was erdya she. Atsc dltveoui hes in eht all ifymal aevg eovl uhcm eohrt eth nad os. Ysoadem oyu esrhda moev ekma ot somaetomr oen nda hse u'ody see uoy usjt vedli ohnegu ync hiwt noce reh blksoc yuro reh psdemiro teh it itno omfr to cabk adn rpeaatmtn, cayzr uoy now logn. Yarcz 'sti. Sep,asd teh dog rhgsonbie i eaylhr of oen erh met adn ftrea. . . Mnade eyalrh. That peiomrs lfuifll seh wsa yuo. .
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Sldo a)!nhskt hte a( no rlmetooycc y??ict in iebk ew teh. Isllt riowngk no in ispan donoc e'erw het. Ugy eievbel tath ouy otg crshu ehgu irylb,fe ohocsl oyu ew in dha ot ttah meardir, high if cna het no. An thta dna to ni tanh of ocaoichll he tou eb subeiav slse upleld out ntdure a uoeyfsrl uyo raye. Oruey' dgoo giiknpc evyr hahtyel nesci ton penoitlahsirs suntdi at. Veer mnda eriaphp atht egeadgn utb yaw ,won emits! vye'uo eislgn tnah etreh neeb ry'oeu. Morf in all pgour a prpvuestio uoy yaw na vaeh uve'yo of knnwo ecrlnbidei efirsdn erven era woh orve. .
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Gohwrt hgeial,n and the naqnrtuiea, idoleats adh peed mimense omnodul nda lycapeeisl yuo in wlhei ouvy'e sutj year last in. Rhohutg nda moer evdio eymon aypl tearms yuo gindo msgea amek veah sllit tmhe dfsienr etm asgem oyu cti,wht eenv it rvaious leltit new a nfedtyelii - no nda agzianm. Yjnoe less of uoy erssst nad oerm fra athw yuo do. .
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Stli ew ahtn ebcukt a dna ahve 100 rgnwogi mroe vaeh bfreoe mites ew ;50 taoslm lgon a 05. Ictgexni 73 a was rntungi dan das liltet. Hee'rst a a hte kolo fylima fe,tl os eth anc it be wlli like erov itsll igb drcsa snpde uhmc os us oyu lkei lla ni llttie of ear sodent' ti ielf adn hte btu ewtahvre kiel emssinoetl oyu etsr godni elsef ti for. Hfiins obok tath. Isnap ot go. Tiisv intnontesc teh lla. Bene lla a tanw lnigvi fllu idlub bineg ouy idmea bsueace ngodi efli peke ryou od gnalo tmoyiunmc auobt lyotpeacalliog e'ouyv icaols ouy and thatniuce uyo! on etweharv it nca. .
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Swih ubtoa wya lmals hse eltl go dan su bcka i 17 hweli rpeaptd haev ahtt seh ftle eilf ew srtero eht so ni ldouc ayre 'sehd edaderm ontw dlo. .
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Voel i uyo. So ma i gefatrlu ofr uoy. Nevre vgae up uoy. Pekt gshinpu oyu. It htsi a yuo noesuhi seow ssecscu rvuvised hoeibrr,l lhefser ohw mose nda sytro rea only ot you. Igngo o,tu eaehwvrt yeojn hucm ggnio ot ti fmor ewe'r we os sas no hree nda ikkc od ot e'erw. And ehost ndi,k no lliw wya eth nad ucenrtneo ew ptatien we laysaw, sa be fo iogfvrnig. .
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E,olv.
Ali e(w og )nwo ali by.

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