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...

Oyu osme huhgot( aec)ghnd dna edanwt !ti yuo otiripeirs ubt uoy ogt eyetgrvnih ddi r,suteggl. .
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Ni veli do we htanatamn. Uyo the aermds to uyo sdharec eht seeabuc menttaapr lveea nda one dan oepsh - we sgger,oou ertmnapat gotuthh ouy rdag haev udtnsi hte ouy atreh oruy hda a sjtu eht wneh upsicoas adh uoy mrtake lots ot nruidg vidle scoloh nsuyn blocks in aleev bkore oryu and locuep romf a icty. Altmso tnkhi rvyee do mhi uoabt ,roysr utb ady uoy m'i lslti. Tisll mih tn'ahve pnokse uoy ginaa to. 'hse a own baby htiw raidmer. You wath bnee uftreu ttha oabut olwud rndoew ni yuo a lkie ti tihw hvae tlo. Rhywto erew ytgirn ot vopre pdesn hte ttha salt hmi oyu ot 10 uoy seary. Ouy eerw wlsaay. Woh pduro rwogn ebaemc turyl be erovp uyo you rnyjoeu nmeooes on and imh to hutohgt lvoe fo you ee,wr eh ttha btu tubao anc. Be so ourpd dowlu so you. Uyo os drupo are. .
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Reom tol rewti uoy a. Epoar adn a elovn nr'teew krco iu,bs(aotim etirw utb we dna strdaet sw?a)lay avhe a roteyp yuo. A iedhblsup, lstil st'i ety but alog tno. 'llew wotre neddosu mlogura, ddi that fro uoy oyu ,rualmgo aedm oiimbnsuss mrnghaeit cyelnhal)itc os as a a you eikl btu outcn fo envre earerc eco,n irefb idd a rof hyte( atht lbpiuhs rwtei. 'eruyo amocnyp ehct asmisev otlnnigucs in ,editsxe kironwg gdiieamn rigentmka for oyu vreen on ni claiso mdiae a a thap. It eovl oyu. Tamsr ptiusovper rea dan binrcyelid your eksorcwro. Royu you - the form rouy eth rpaaemntt uoy yuor nyascautr dimp,eanc hwit llac - to arefvoit eaclp egt sedi fo numodol now by bucaese owrk. .
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Sltil ouolnmd si duanro. Dna carecn itsh 12 aebt meurms eb eh lilw. No eebviel esh' ct'an lopeep na eth tsreet anm dol. A bieng in eh still obohoherndig teh ahs fro eyrneg dog etpirnaotu pyppu adn pahtpsei teh. Hreyal ni dpsesa alts arye rcham. Dna wsa asw hes rdyea 81 ehs. Seh eth rheto flimay hte lal tiodlveu avge mcuh so and eolv sact in. Eldiv teh see kame dheras dna dyseaom whit ti ehr oyru bkca cyarz ehs koslbc uyo nhgeou apemtnar,t you nglo ud'yo jtsu cyn ot oecn frmo eno ot move nwo dna mtamseoro iopesrmd toni ouy hre. 'sit rzayc. Tfaer one ibgreonsh and i haelry fo het etm rhe gdo sead,sp. . . Rlheya nmeda. Uilffll ehs meriosp yuo atht saw. .
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Yt??ic ibke teh (a in we etolycorcm het k)asth!n on lsod. Onkirgw 'reew isltl hte pnsai ni on ocnod. Ygu ni anc eievble the dah aimrdr,e ot if we fl,ryebi htta slohco ouy no rhcus oyu hhgi gto ttha hegu. Uyo fo vbuaise etrdnu to he leplud ttah na and htan a in eb sels uto fsyuoelr uot ocilclaho eary. Ciikgnp tno dstuin rvye yoeu'r at theayhl sieohptrisnal einsc doog. Utb miste! neggeda tnah 'euryo ,won hatt erteh danm evre eoyu'v eebn way appiehr selign. Na ertuivopps oyevu' evnre lla in of vore ywa uyo guopr a nnkwo srnfdei ahve era ofmr dcbirnilee owh. .
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Orthwg hda lduonom yaesilplec uoye'v msmiene ustj egi,nhal ea,uqraitnn pdee lehwi het uoy adn arye tsal dan iodtlase in ni. Ynemo letitl uoy no gamse meags eavh ,twicth a mhte dveoi ydietelfni meak uyo inaazgm and tsmaer orem tilsl nfrsied vnee otrhhgu vuroisa ti enw - goind emt dna ypla. Arf essl fo do ssrest nyoej uyo adn rome you htaw. .
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A ew ;50 eahv ggnoirw evha dna 010 a lits 50 we etcbku eorm anht olsamt glon tsmie reoebf. Asw 37 a ngitnru asd iltlet dna gnxciiet. Be leik ni uyo elsef ti ookl hmcu a ti dcras tbu so miafyl fro nodig illw ilef lla mnlitseose 'rteehs ti you ikle the big iekl teh su can dan ent'ods haetrwev a of tf,el ear ttllie vero litls ndeps so tsre the. Tath okbo iifhsn. To og pasin. Isivt all hte nenisocttn. Bgein yuor oyu do flei nca twan emdai on oyu keep been all ti seuacbe 'yevuo ludib llfu angol coslai a heweavtr utimmnyoc nidgo dna aclilyopateolg ivinlg nuacteith abtuo y!ou. .
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I lmals sd'he ubtoa nwto llet epdrtap that seh awy we go hvae os madreed het wlieh in ftel tersor kacb lod lief 71 dan cdulo hse su year hiws. .
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I uoy evlo. I ma oyu so lugaretf orf. You avge pu vreen. Ouy uiphsng tkpe. Moes ti dna escscsu yonl ohseuni a isth lfeshre hwo uyo you ,lihebrro esvuvdri ot orsty eows are. Iggno we do mhcu dna to ,out it jneyo goign ikck on ewvrehat ot sas rwe'e e'rew rfom eehr so. Eb of on rntecuneo awy sa we ngigorfiv hte will ohtse ayw,sal nda ietntap we n,kid nad. .
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Vo,le.
Ila (ew og nwo) by ali.

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