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...

(hhugot eipiriosrt ubt oesm ddi egitvnheyr ouy tgo tge,urgsl yuo t!i adn hdeg)anc awnetd ouy. .
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Naamhtnat od liev we in. Heav had oepsh dinsut ocbskl het ocsolh ehacdsr gnrudi otsl a - oen vldie you aetrh eht gouhtht dna lveea ot you ctiy tpantaemr in rfmo unysn mtekra rbkoe tusj aaenrttmp upleco wnhe het ogg,eruso dan oruy gard bceusae adn eht yuo ot sasuicpo uyo esramd a vleae oyru dah we oyu. Yda ,rroys mhi 'mi yuo slilt veery but inthk aobut sltmao do. Kenspo mih aanig han'vet to lltis uyo. Bbya a hitw redirma nwo seh'. It otl you trfueu athw dolwu abuto with aveh lkei uyo a bnee tath wedron ni. Mih uoy astl the nrytig oyu asyre 10 nsdep rwtyoh ot taht wree rvpoe ot. Rwee uoy yalwas. You thtugho lrytu oyu hwo uojynre to tbu no eb eh opevr fo mih omenseo acn oprud ovle bouat ewre, hatt eamecb onwgr uyo nad. So eb ouy uodwl os rodup. Rae so oyu puord. .
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Moer otl oyu a iretw. Ocrk a dan nad yotepr aorpe evha we aerdstt tbu aay)wl?s onvel retiw uoy tewn'er s(oab,iutim a. Yte tis' not utb dshbupi,el a alog litsl. Lraogmu, orf emtniahrg hatt veenr tbu os binmousiss oyu (hyet untco irfeb uyo uoy a a elki erwti donedsu ew'll idd lubsiph ca)tenhclyli amgl,ruo taht a ofr sa fo mdea did ocen, wreto rrecea. A a tech liocas ymcopna ni gworkni ryou'e meiaidgn evern vaisems eiadm egtmiakrn es,xdtie gsinnoutcl on uoy ni hatp orf. Levo it uoy. Srtma ipvsurtope wrokreosc rliydbiecn dan rae uyro. Oyu euesabc uroy deis mrfo - cpael royu wkor by amratnetp royu uyrnacats onw gte - ihtw of to ofrietva clal mdulnoo piac,nmed eth eht ouy. .
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Llsti mudnloo is onardu. Lwli ateb eh itsh eb uemrsm dan ecracn 12. Lod nct'a no poeple retset man teh an evlbeei es'h. Odg the a geyner he ieodhobgohnr ltlsi fro thippesa egibn hte adn utaenorpti ash ypppu ni. Eayr sspeda ni yelrah lsat rhcma. Ehs erdya swa asw esh 18 nda. Ilmafy hes uhmc evga and eht lla so love ni eth tsca erhto votilude. Evlid ot ot meov nyc seh crzay kblcso uoy yrou ceno ntoi edoasym dan mtnrapt,ea srhdae own dna ertmsomoa yu'od meak rhe uyo ti erh lgon the utsj dieprmso onehug bkca yuo see whit fmro oen. Ayzcr is't. ,psasde of het i dan ogd traef rlaehy erh oen bgheoisrn etm. . . Dnmea ralhey. Lllfuif uyo saw riposem esh ttha. .
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(a tc??iy kebi teh ni lsdo oetcrclomy the we on snt)!hak. 'eerw listl on wnoigkr cnood eht in spian. Thta rusch yuo no eevibel uyg in iefbylr, olshco tog htta ghhi to hte heug fi we can oyu ,idrmaer adh. Lryesfou a tath edurtn eayr dna uot nath uyo fo ot an uot in less beauisv ellpud cohicaoll eh be. Ltyheah sniec ta yoreu' inriphealosst piigcnk eyvr nto odgo suntid. Atht e!imts ev'oyu ,now esnilg bnee dman vere ahiprpe ehetr hant uer'yo awy ubt ggeaend. Who eernv dbcliirnee pgour otevrppuis reov way fo frdinse eyuo'v ear ni mrof lal nkonw oyu aveh an a. .
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Mmseeni elwih eyar ni natur,neaqi wotghr het uyo jtsu dah adn depe eidatols in nad dloonum uoy'ev ispeycllea aginl,eh lsta. Nwe uyo mgase eovid nda rusviao itieylnfde sgema etm hmte - dfeirsn omney torhugh ngodi rmeo ahev enev dan stemar litelt ti tlils wt,tihc paly aazmgni meka uyo a no. Slse twha you of raf rmeo etssrs yejon od adn uyo. .
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Hvae meor rggiwon semit lsti feoebr 50; tubkec we we nda mloats glno a 05 nath 100 aevh a. Rtniugn aws a 73 cgiixtne tiletl sad dan. All kool eth a of leesf nad rof ndiog ti us iylmaf eikl ouy it so vroe het oyu werthaev acn uhcm tbu so a srte tisll elik ,letf liwl eth elneoistsm racsd eb in it lkie ednps odten's big 'hrtsee ilfe are ltltie. Taht nhifsi book. Ot nsapi og. All tsivi eth snctenotin. On buceesa lagon neutchiat all nac peek geibn wtan gnodi oyu !oyu icaosl dna you lubdi lluf pieoglolylcaat oimtymcun eawhevtr dmiae feli botau do o'yveu uory nlgiiv neeb ti a. .
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H'des aeptpdr rrsote seh back wont ewlhi 17 us and llet seh eyar thta have hte ni os etfl lmlsa odl we reemadd i aoubt yaw hwis efil doclu og. .
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Evlo ouy i. Am i yuo so felagrut for. Vener pu evga yuo. Eptk gspinhu ouy. Ystor how yuo viuedrvs usescsc ti wose semo ot oib,lhrre inouesh elsrehf shit nda a ear yonl uyo. On ot ngogi dan wtevrhae ikck rofm yonje ti do so wee'r cmuh oigng ssa 'reew eehr we ot o,tu. The ehost we and no pniteta eb we oenrtencu ,ndki gvnrfoiig dan as yaw ya,wlsa iwll fo. .
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Ove,l.
Ew( wn)o ali ila by go.

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