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...

Dan uyo rrpteoiisi agh)dcne mose oyu ggtlseur, idd gveithnyer tbu dwtnae otu(hhg you tog i!t. .
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Od ew elvi ni mhnaaatnt. Yuor a uttgohh ecoupl ruding grad htrea ouy bseucae uidnst eth hedrasc aeelv spheo hvea guegsoro, uyo ni tnrapaetm had trkema - uoy and yuo nad erdsma ofmr nusyn het etrantamp avlee csobkl a ot scuaipso ahd and kreob oyu utjs to tlos ldevi ruoy ehwn ocohls teh ew one icty the. Tslli oyu ihm yosr,r mslota nkhit uabto i'm od btu ayd vryee. Tllis ksonpe 'nhtaev mih iaagn ot oyu. Hwti yabb 'ehs now a reimdar. Lto abtuo uldow evah you wreodn waht ilek it ahtt a in tiwh eebn ouy teuruf. Eth ot ysrae uyo 01 ngtriy sdnpe ltas prove ot tyhowr oyu ihm ttah wree. Yuo yaswal ewre. Ohw on evrop lryut uonejry cbemea uyo ot ubt eh wrgon thgotuh him onsmoee fo eb veol you dna rpodu anc btoau e,rwe atth uoy. Os owudl eb yuo oudpr os. Yuo rea so oupdr. .
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Oyu emro tol irwet a. E'tenrw adn ew utb nevol eavh ouy cork a riwte straedt m,(osibuiat poera sya?wa)l a nda etoypr. She,upblid aglo a not but 'tis tye lslit. Haegnrimt tbu dsdunoe oyu aedm a of gomarlu, ddi raouglm, oyu a wl'le ofr tath ddi bionmssius as wetri eervn leki ht(ye you ewtro a erbfi os cen,o builhsp rcreae lcceay)ilthn fro uonct ttha. Apth ocsail oy'rue you in editsex, neevr ni esisvma aomcnyp nnticoglus adime igmainde a rkgeamnti fro ehct kwgorin a no. It lvoe oyu. Eilinbydrc errwkcoos srpptiuevo aer dna yuro mrtas. Uyo ravetoif ryuo you eht nttemraap own ryou by lpeac the sdei lcal to dmoulno of fomr suanratyc wkor - - oury cindp,ema egt aebusce htwi. .
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Sitll uadonr is ldnouom. Lwil 21 eh reaccn shit baet and eb rmmseu. An elopep dlo hte ettres vileebe on nma hes' 'cnat. A neeyrg tllsi ni eh het genib upypp ofr sah god oihdbheorngo ehapispt urtaeipton nad eth. Aepdss eayr rcham lheray last in. Wsa 81 aeryd swa hes and ehs. Os tacs dna vdtieolu oelv mhcu in gvae hes the eth flmyia lla hotre. Smdayeo a,ptnreamt ouy keam ehr neo toni her emvo nlog your iseomrdp ogunhe to the mfor akcb evlid seadrh won smoaortme hiwt ti yuo see she obcskl oecn uoy 'oduy nad zarcy tjsu ot dna ycn. Zaryc it's. Eth ed,sspa reh dog faret nhogserbi fo neo i tme and yhlrea. . . Hraeyl nemad. Hatt you hes meorips wsa ifulllf. .
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Ikeb eth no ??tyci !nk)stah sdol ni rmlyeoctoc we (a the. Wrkngoi ncodo het no aipsn in sllti erew'. Htta chsolo hte no dha fi veiebel ot ni oyu uyo lyrfb,ei ucrsh hgeu eimard,r ew taht tog gyu hhig acn. Out to aery a soufreyl urentd coiaohllc eh of an sles dluepl be dna out hant htta you in bseauvi. Eo'uyr ogod nisce stdniu ta ltehhay not ihiensstorapl yver ipgiknc. Eoyuv' tub etim!s nmda isnelg eerv ywa eebn htere eour'y ageedng rapphie w,on than htta. Frdsien lla in gorpu na a ouy ue'yov elicendbir rae have reenv ywa of mrof evro oprveiutps woh nnokw. .
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Year smeenim rowhgt cslylepiea the ni stuj pdee ihwle odltieas l,geainh lnomudo and and ueanq,itarn yueo'v had oyu in tsal. Nwe mizgana tltlei ltlis ymnoe eevn adn oasirvu ekam meor dyfeneiitl - seirfnd tmares cwitth, on meht a lapy nidgo haev uyo hogrtuh edvio aesgm uyo ti gemsa and emt. Hawt essl jyneo sresst yuo dan afr of od emor oyu. .
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Tils giwgorn we fbeoer emsti nad tbckeu evah a lngo 5;0 athn ew a 001 loastm 05 vhae meor. 73 a unrgnit adn sda tiixceng itltel asw. Ti everawht mcuh feil ti eht esd'not ekil llwi rdsac llits 'rehets nodig utb ekli elki so psdne the be you of era su teh okol os a ster a all nda flet, in eorv ibg yilfam acn fsele tellit insmtleseo for ti uyo. Htta oobk ifhsni. Ot sinpa go. Ntescoitnn teh lla tisvi. Lal ycmnotuim uebscae !you lagon flul tatnheciu ruyo ti can mdiae dbiul you do iebng gnliiv a cliaos ev'uoy iodng itegllpacaoyol touab ebne ekpe lief uyo trwaeevh dna on atwn. .
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Aoutb rroets ownt lelt duolc we tfel edsh' llams hes have mddaeer 17 ihwel the detprpa adn tath in aeyr efli su hsiw i go so ayw odl kbca esh. .
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Vole i you. I yuo ma orf ufrtaegl os. Pu uyo vaeg evenr. Ktpe you gniphus. Woes ot sthi uihones ti ear cscssue rlbo,ehir ouy edvurisv hesrefl and a noyl orsyt soem ouy how. To ginog and we sas much ehvwaret 'rewe od rhee onigg so ,tou no kikc nyoej rofm to e'wer ti. Oetsh nad d,nik fo antteip eht no neocenurt ew sa awy grifgivon ysala,w dan eb ew ilwl. .
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L,voe.
O)wn ila lai by go (we.

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