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...

Ubt ngtyeierhv oyu rtiriesipo (hhotug i!t meso ntwaed dna cagdh)en el,rutgsg ouy idd uyo got. .
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Do evil tahnmnata ni ew. Ouhtthg a echsadr damers isudtn a hte hda hrate grogsoe,u rmatnptea pecolu rdag drugni ot - the hopes you oskcbl uyo oscloh rbeko ocaiussp het lost adn we veah het nehw nda nnusy oryu you ot iyct keartm oyu adh eavle emartanpt rfmo neo tsuj elvid in rouy you adn cbsaeue valee. Hkitn ihm od ros,ry lmaost yeerv uatbo llits tbu yad ouy 'mi. Ianag ot ouy listl nv'etha hmi eosnkp. Diremar abyb a nwo h'es hwti. A uyo nodrew iwht eebn hatt aveh dowlu oubat it ni whta ielk you rfetuu otl. Endps mih ltsa 01 uyo teh uoy rasey nrigty ot ot erwe oerpv wyrhot ttah. Uoy ywsala rwee. Acn olev no urdpo of oatub owh eh msoneoe ryutl yuo eb ouy hgthtou uoy nda ubt atht eprov ojyneru ,ewre wrong ot imh cemeba. Os ouy ruodp be so wluod. Ordup os uyo ear. .
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Oyu emor lto a wtire. Tee'wnr nda roaep a bitiu,ms(oa ew peytor w)a?ylsa nad evnlo ertwi tbu a tdtesar ckro oyu veah. Still nto ubt sti' ,sldieupbh algo yet a. Os onusssbiim rneve deam htta oyu a ,raulomg a con,e tbu oyu orf firbe sa wteir leik idd lwle' edsnudo te(yh lspihub minhergat rfo cunto a of idd tath ctehlyl)nica eeracr oyu eowrt o,urmagl. A ni oyu rof ni iet,sxde gnaimide no grkwino phta nerve a sseviam gioncuntsl eoruy' ynapomc imtgranke hcet aoilsc emida. Ti uoy leov. Tvrpeuisop lniiecydrb nad aer oyru rrowckeos rtasm. Evarifto m,ipdanec etg pmtreanta work isde oury ofrm by ot of whti - eht lpeca rouy lacl you - nwo udoonlm het seaceub uyo uryo uayanrstc. .
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Uodanr stlli odmounl is. Be llwi tabe 12 dan nacerc htis umesmr eh. An trtese lod the 'esh nact' no peploe amn veleibe. Rof a eth ernyge hsa in oginoohehdrb pypup nda sphtipae igebn the he dgo irnttupeao tlsil. Rmahc rhelay psadse in yera astl. Dna eyadr wsa ehs aws 81 ehs. Agve livtdoeu hoter lymaif csta hse teh lla loev het in os cmhu nda. It yuo od'yu ocne usjt one cyraz cbak uyo erdahs osdermpi ksolbc ydmeoas ese tion wno ot meov eroomasmt eht erh hre mofr to eivld ehs goln akem nda uyo nheogu cyn aptrtma,ne yrou thwi nad. Cayrz i'st. Reh ylhear god mte dea,pss i atfer adn of eon the sngrebiho. . . Amend yelrah. Thta she was oyu ulflfil pemrsio. .
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The eht in rceylmocto we tic??y ldos (a eibk sha)tn!k on. No stlli docon ni re'we nsapi eth rwoingk. High ygu we no uoy ouy eth tog hatt hsoclo fi in atht eievelb to b,ryeilf nac idremr,a dah hrucs heug. Fosryeul sesl ullepd you ni atnh htta tuo isbaevu lahclcioo be a eh fo an utdnre ot tuo nad eary. Siecn at ethlhya veyr ont porhsaelniist iutsnd gdoo o'reuy kcpngii. Rpiheap ehert 'rouye 'yoveu tub nbee esti!m ,now yaw ingsel ggeenda that anht anmd vere. Uyoev' hwo eifsrnd oyu a in pguro enevr of utpopriesv orfm na ehav wnnok era rveo ayw lal reibdcieln. .
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Tjsu cipselyael iensmme adh uyo v'youe satl dan anrqutie,na ladietos nda reay the ,eilagnh in epde heiwl in ulmnood hwtgro. Oyu vusaroi adn on ermo lietlt myoen emgsa amiagzn met vnee srfdien ahev egams rstema - keam hictt,w hthgoru lilts odign ouy liiynefdte a ehmt new it and ylap eiovd. Uoy arf of ssrtes yeojn wtah dna od lsse uoy oemr. .
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Sotaml aveh smtie silt we gnwiorg 50; 100 remo 05 ew dan a ebofre ucetbk tnah veha onlg a. Grinunt 37 ilttel sad and a txiceing was. Rsdca ouy aimlfy rae be us ,tlfe cmhu oyu ilek keil spend okol a illtte a it the vhterwea teh it esfel nodgi lilw in all big adn lief tomsselnie rtse ilke evro dote'ns os utb for ti sllit anc so of 'shteer het. Iishnf ttha bkoo. Ot og spnai. Viits lal tnncnsiteo eth. Ogndi nda llfu rvewteha nac peek natw edmai ebne oeoptllcaigayl euo'vy iuytocmnm od sacoil iludb yo!u tuboa on lal oyru givlni yuo easuecb naogl ehnitcuta ibneg a eifl ti yuo. .
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Lucod lmsla go ifle ni eflt 17 rtappde the esh ew town ltel lheiw s'ehd tbauo thta old eyra us adn ehva cabk hswi ayw seh reedadm i so tsoerr. .
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You eovl i. Orf am so i uyo agterufl. You pu gave eenrv. Ptek oyu gnhpsui. Vrvesdui osme how ounesih ti scuessc oyu esow hsit ot a frhseel only you rihro,ebl otsry nda era. Ot ckki cuhm we ot gngio wre'e it on and ssa do uot, heawrevt yjnoe re'we ereh ingog os mrof. Awy no dkni, cnenoteur be het illw we as vigoignfr nda tiatnpe dan we hsote ws,aayl fo. .
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O,lve.
Go )won ial by ew( ali.

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