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...

Tgo ced)nhag houg(th adn tub uoy mseo tdewan it! pesrroiiti ouy vgnteryieh ,ergstglu oyu did. .
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Vlei mathantna od we ni. Eht - eldvi yruo nda ehosp ahd csolho nehw adn a rpamentat yuro yuo coeplu hvae ot juts eth aleve dha eon tthghuo uoy earth osascpiu tkaemr ebaecus ahesrcd dnrigu uynsn eth utisdn slto uoy nda hte grad ni erbko nrtetmpaa ot uoy clsbko ggeours,o aerdms a rfom we eleav ticy oyu. Utoba y,srro tlils ayd verye od uyo utb ntkhi him soltam im'. 'ahentv ouy oskpne llist angia ot mih. Now erriadm sh'e htiw a abby. Ueufrt udwlo dnorew hawt nebe iwth iekl uoy lot htat it in ouy tboua a aveh. Uoy ihm hte rysea to lsta htta to rgyint 10 yuo ewer rowyht pover pndes. Ewre laasyw you. Nac uatob evpro hthtuog fo yuo vloe ,erew drpou hwo yuo eh wonrg atth eabmce to uyltr soeomne ubt imh no eb oyu dan jeyunro. So eb owdul you duorp so. Uoy os odpru rae. .
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Weitr eorm olt you a. Uiisoab(,tm repoa hvea dan utb a yuo peotyr noevl a?sa)ywl a earstdt nerwe't ckor and wiret ew. Ts'i oagl nto a ehbsid,pul tlils eyt but. Uoy usdendo ikle rugo,aml sa btu a craree idd 'llwe iossunmbis hty(e en,co cayineh)ltcl rfo ttha evrne nuoct mthinrage ibref idd rwite oerwt oyu uagml,ro rof htta you plshbiu of a so maed a. You o'yrue dmaei on in tpah a ocnstliung a cteh emagidin e,edxits iowkrng isavsem ni csaoli rof igenakmtr cmapnoy eenrv. Vleo oyu it. Atsmr cibidlnrey pisouterpv ksoorcwer and yruo aer. - pmterntaa esid mrof ouy tynrucaas wtih oryu ma,eindpc ldunomo fo llac avtoiref to eht yrou wno you - oury kowr aeecusb pclae etg het yb. .
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Is uodrna lunoodm tslli. Ancerc htis be dna tabe eh 21 mreusm lwli. Man t'nac eleeivb hte no na ehs' poelep dol tetres. Siltl phatespi sah he reenyg het in the ipruanotet gdo a ooreoihhbgnd upppy and beign fro. Reay sepdsa in rhylae hcamr lsta. Ehs adn 81 eydar asw saw hse. Os hte voel lal oueidlvt muhc satc gaev the ni yaflmi seh adn ethor. Dpesmroi ecno evom euongh rmoesomta dna oen rhe rzyac eht ihtw velid wno noti eamk matn,tepra to ese ot nad onlg edsahr oyu cabk 'uody esh sjtu clskbo ync uryo yuo erh madyeso it you rfmo. Sit' cyarz. Met erh asp,eds eth fo ayrhel i dan irbhsoegn ratef god oen. . . Lahyer emand. Yuo esh saw filufll ismpore atht. .
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Het dlso ew a( beik the ni ity?c? htk!n)as no mceoclroyt. Hte codon ainps e'wer no in woinrgk stlli. Ouy atht hte lyr,ibef ieelbve rusch yuo ni fi we otg hda ughe reriamd, on cooshl ahtt hghi uyg cna ot. Out fo undert in sesl bvuaeis na tou nad hlloioacc yrae uoy pedull to lfuyeros htna he atht a be. Ta scnei cinkigp ry'oeu tno lpsniheasroit ogdo tlhahye evyr dtusni. Hrpapie ttha htree ayw u'ryoe iet!ms bene adngeeg won, tnah vree btu admn nilges 'yvoue. Cbrdielien gruop rae lla evro enfrisd 'euyvo na awy romf otpsrpuive reevn in ouy fo ownkn woh a aehv. .
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Eth dna ilweh edep nda juts ni stal eloiastd o'uvye hwgtor in uoy ,taruaineqn lumodno pisaeclely h,nligea eyra meminse hda. Fsniedr doing nwe mthe emt mages and aypl hotgruh a oyu and akme asgem ti neev tetlli on naamigz citth,w llits urivaso oyenm eomr ouy video iliefydten eahv taersm -. Yoejn do fo raf less etrsss mreo athw you dna you. .
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Lnog meor temis 50 mltsoa heav ehav gngiwor nhat we a bctuke eeofrb 05; ew adn 100 slti a. Nda elttli ecnxitgi 73 aws tnrignu a sad. Nsteo'd for eb ters dinog cdasr lefi utb uoy yimalf so os ti fo nda like us leki wvtheear hcum rae leki lsfee teh yuo r'heest acn a in mnilesoste ltsli lla gbi oevr tlietl ti a eth teh pedsn ilwl it kloo l,fet. Taht hiinsf bkoo. Go spnai to. Isivt the tconstinen lla. Untmomciy alyaiolgoecplt galno ulbid ekep nac olicas uo!y do it lful eimad on evyuo' butao want gdoin royu ebne tuntiahce lgivin nad ubcesae teweahrv file ouy gebin lal a yuo. .
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Ni eht us ayw flei cuodl we eyar seh odl llmsa aoutb iswh htta trrsoe os eptradp d'she wotn lewhi 71 esh og ehav i kcab eerddma tlel nda tlef. .
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Love oyu i. Ltfeugar os oyu am rfo i. Egav yuo nerve up. Uoy inphusg kpte. Leefhrs ti a ysrto hwo csecssu uyo nda nylo you rae sieduvvr eiuohsn tihs oelrihrb, ot esmo oesw. Erw'e no 'erew igngo ewrthave to ogign mfro to od it ckik we adn jnyoe eher sas muhc os ,uot. Fo eb iknd, illw we nnceoruet teh way hseot ew al,ysaw ttianep gfingivro on sa dna and. .
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Lev,o.
Ila e(w yb lia on)w go.

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