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...

Rprsoiitei ges,tulgr dan cden)hga ouy !ti tog yuo uhogt(h uyo did irnveghyet ubt meos wdaetn. .
.
Eivl ni ew do amhtntnaa. Ur,sgooeg colsoh raeht ouy evael uyo mkreta nda eht rmof houtght ahd eht we sabceeu city yuo ot a adn poeulc and crehads you dha hte one ehav uory stlo rbeko the - velea nutisd nnusy jstu nmatptrae opucsisa yrou ni lvied ardmse a to rdga kolsbc aatntmpre nhwe peohs nuirdg oyu. Od oasltm 'im ubt obuat ,rysor mhi khitn you ady yvere lslit. Sopkne siltl teh'nav ot uyo ignaa hmi. E'hs wiht a ybab own rmadire. Uoy wtha a onderw etufru htta hitw kile ni tauob lwduo vhea bene ti you tlo. That tnrigy the to uyo veopr otyhrw tlsa eyars uyo 10 ot pndse mhi rwee. Oyu wree aysawl. Ubt podru vloe atht ot jyoerun uaobt fo beeamc rwogn ouy rew,e and osonmee tlury uoy eb mhi opevr thguoht yuo anc eh hwo on. You eb os dopur dwulo os. Yuo aer drpuo so. .
.
A tlo erwit ouy more. Rtpeyo drtesat adn weirt )ay?slaw rkoc a tosm(ab,iui btu a you eolnv dan 'reetnw we pearo aevh. But due,ilsbph olga lltsi ton i'ts a eyt. Oyu a ccehn)aytlli o,armglu ehy(t nerev ctuno a hatt amgrhntie htat woert efrbi a iekl ,uomalrg ecrear os emda lwe'l sa ibuossimns did utb noe,c oyu fo rof iwter sddeoun ddi ouy orf ublpsih. Eimda isoalc cyamnop uyo a in akrgentmi ofr grwonki thce ni icnluonstg vismaes reenv naiigdme 'uyore a no htap dxsetie,. Ti olev you. Ocokrrwse iovruptspe tsram cilbedrniy era yrou nad. Ithw onw uyro - vetofria fo dies rnasuacty uoy by apelc to ptaermtna yuro hte oyru hte usebcae pmcien,da - clal uyo ofrm kwro dnuolmo get. .
.
Si ltsil monulod donura. Htis 12 tabe srmeum ecncra he lwil nda eb. Poplee an cnta' teh veebiel on rsttee eh's lod man. Hte dan oognoehrbhdi teuonrtiap he yneegr gbnei sha gdo pyppu a teh ni rfo litsl aetshipp. Eray edssap lsat rhyale amchr in. Esh 18 asw seh aws adn eyrda. Evlo eht eht stac luvtdieo so theor nad esh yflima ni lal hcum vage. Eldiv cakb gnlo ot to onec amdsoey emak e,ttrpnama ody'u ovme noe aedrhs oyu hse ync into ryou dan omfr carzy yuo her dan now uhegon itwh reh erdpmois ees oetasormm oyu stuj eht ckobsl it. Ti's acrzy. I dna faetr regsihnbo ryheal tme s,asdep of dog ehr eht neo. . . Nadme ahyerl. Liluffl atth ehs pmsireo yuo was. .
.
Beik (a n!)tkahs dlos ni we hte ??iytc cyoocmrlte eht on. In ocndo niasp on het tlisl iwogkrn eerw'. Uegh cooslh no gto ni dia,emrr to cna hte tath rushc bylfre,i ahd beeleiv if hghi uyg htat ouy uyo we. Ntderu elysufro eh a ihlcooalc ttha sels oyu be fo ueldlp iubvaes nda in ryae otu na uot to htna. Dsntui vrye at ncies hhtlyea iehptailnssor odog ton eoyr'u pckgiin. Lesgin ru'eyo hnat o,nw ovy'eu negaedg thta btu treeh itm!es ayw dnma nebe veer hpeiapr. How cleridineb awy are you o'veuy in of an irfndes ernev mofr lla a tresiupvop evha ovre onnwk urogp. .
.
Elhwi ni had reya lylpicaese hwtogr tjus smmenei eedp oedtasil dan y'evuo omdluon ni anrntqeui,a nda il,hnage atls teh uyo. Nad eorm ti sillt oyu oghhrtu w,ticth ngiod maseg no tmhe - tme omney you agems evah a tetlli satmer drniefs sivoaru anazgmi play kema nda ntdeifeliy new neve odive. Ssestr adn moer oyu of esls uoy twah raf jnyeo od. .
.
A ehva ctuekb we avhe we bferoe norwggi onlg a smeit dan ;05 50 emro 001 tanh tsil somlta. Nad sad 73 ntigunr asw a tletli gencxtii. Elfi a eth hte ilek rae nda bgi fmyali lefes rfo tbu rset in kile lal stlil drsca you niogd iwll a su be ti oolk et,fl tellit whrteaev ndspe odse'tn uyo nac uhcm so eh'etrs ti ikle hte so of ti nlsitmsoee rove. Tath nfshii okob. Ansip to og. Lal teh itsiv ntnosictne. Igdno oyru a do lla gypotiaaoelcll dan ibeng lful becaesu wnta lnvigi !you uidlb whetaerv tuaob neeb ouy ieamd you'ev icyotnmmu goaln flei ti uientcath can on ekpe uoy acsoli. .
.
Rtdeppa ehva owtn ed'sh oertsr and os ryea 17 uodlc tlle hes ttah lmlas whiel hse in us lefi hisw tuoab kacb wya eaedmdr eftl lod go i eht ew. .
.
I yuo oevl. Rfo flrugate so am i yuo. Pu uyo nreve agve. Ptke yuo guspnhi. Dna smoe a aer ievsvdru how osyrt ylno sferehl ebrhlori, usnheoi you sith scessuc ti you ewso ot. On onigg od it ere'w ikkc w'ree to jeony uhmc ew hree romf ssa so ot,u igogn dna to vatrhewe. Figonrigv we ounnrceet be dnk,i s,ayawl fo on thsoe nteiatp dan llwi way as eth we dan. .
.
Eo,vl.
Now) go ali w(e ail yb.

This user has written an update to this letter.To see what they wrote, please

Press ← and → on your keyboard to move between letters

Write new comment

Load more comments