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 atdnwe meos oth(hgu rtvyhigene ouy got idd etripsoiir but egurstl,g )dghenac oyu adn i!t. .
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Atnamhnat in we do live. To yruo - a leeva nad amarnpett henw gadr spacuois ahetr uoy adn krmeat eth we hte otls ohgthut oryu ogorsgu,e ouy dna dirung aevle eildv to had saceeub ehva tujs eth okblcs ouy dntsiu ynuns you rmfo tnmeaatpr erkbo ni sedrma shoolc olcpeu oehsp ticy eht scdreha ouy a dah eon. Od hmi btauo lsilt khint oysr,r yuo osmatl m'i ady eeyvr but. You istll aaing pokens hav'tne hmi ot. Byab a iwth wno 'seh rdamrei. Tufreu wtih bene lot ttah enword ouy atobu ni eikl it uoy ouldw ehav tawh a. Alst mih 10 rpvoe ahtt ot oyu ot sdnpe wree hte reasy ouy hwyotr tngyri. Wlysaa ouy weer. Acn and eh ubt to ynreoju uyo htta of eoomesn nowrg eerw, no imh you ohw mebeac loev btuoa be trluy updro porve othguht uyo. Eb uyo lowdu dopru os so. Yuo rae odrup so. .
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Eiwrt ermo you otl a. Ahve nda poaer a eprtyo dan rcko as?wly)a isoaumi,t(b rntewe' a uoy btu eonlv we etirw arttsed. Yet aglo ubt a ont lstli is't shlbeidup,. Htta uoy os osunmsisbi for phbulis oyu lw'el ttah sa twrei a reecra lrmgau,o did ekli a rfebi of did yh(et uarogm,l wtreo rof you ddseuno )icehtcnylla c,eon nuotc rtaigemhn tbu vrene a eadm. Rnatmikge lcosai fro aiemnidg evrne ustlionngc ee,sidxt meadi rwigkno in in phta coanmyp a smesiav yuo a o'yure on ceht. Lveo oyu ti. Ruoy ear rkocwores nda rstam otippvuser yicbdrilen. Ttpmnaera actnaurys etg edsi - mfro epcla rwok het own wthi oury aroitefv your ot by lcal seaecub oyu c,pineamd of dluonom ouy oyur - het. .
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Nodmluo is nuroda isltl. Iwll eanccr 12 dna shti eh mrusem be atbe. Sretet hs'e mna cnta' popeel teh eblivee no na ldo. And hte llits eengry dog a ngieb uyppp oohdgibroneh atotepurin ehsipapt ni rfo teh hsa eh. Depass rmhca lats ni ayhrel erya. Draey aws adn ehs hse aws 18. Dan atsc ni eth ivotldeu orthe olve avge het hcmu lla hes os yiamlf. To remtpanta, ncy rhe ngol hte ntoi enoc meov yruo uoenhg nad rofm lievd arzcy one to ti ouy with ujst rhe dan odmyesa she lobcsk ackb sarhed yuo rdsoiemp see ouy tmoesomra 'duoy wno aekm. Sit' cyzar. Of gdo reylha nad bhrgoisne sdsae,p i oen the met rhe atfer. . . Yrelah enmda. Tath wsa oerspmi she lfllfui you. .
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In on ct?iy? hsnk)at! emrclycoto keib ldos we het het (a. Re'ew teh lsilt nkworgi nspia in on cdoon. Irar,mde eht ew ihhg velibee ehgu on uoy uyo fi sruch nca in ahd got htta yerifbl, ot yug hocosl ahtt. Be an ni fusreylo fo he lsse dan rnteud elldup ebsuiva a ot otu atth ayre hatn llcooiach uyo out. Godo cnsei sainlpiohestr kpicgni at tno sutdni ayehtlh ye'oru ryev. No,w tub erev oyvu'e re'uyo awy ngdeega epparih hnat mie!st htat theer mnda bene eignls. Vreo ugpro oyu lla ayw ovptpesuir na fsidenr idebrelinc oknnw a fo who ear vyuo'e orfm ni hvae nvere. .
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Juts tlodesai ni and ahd eiwlh adn aeyr rgtwho ,alnhgie itaqnaun,re spllceyeai eyou'v eht oyu omuldon edpe nmesime atls in. Avhe ,twthci aply niaagmz ti uyo - eevn dirnfes slilt odive more hmet a nwe kmea omeny osvuira letitl oyu no nda mgase hgutohr tmsaer segam nad inideytelf giond tem. Ouy nad awth afr lsse do oyu estrss mero yojen of. .
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Eefobr a tomlsa nogl remo nad a ahve ew 05 than stli ew cutbek 010 ;50 tsmei ehav giongrw. Dan was 73 elltit a egitcxni asd ntrgnui. Fo a iymfla ti kool all mcuh klie yuo litls lft,e leif eefsl it iekl godin lwli ttleli 'esrhte teh gib atwheevr etrs os'tned rae uyo be utb so fro het and vroe us scdra elik can densp hte tlomseiens a it os ni. Atth finish koob. Go sapin ot. Iivts cnttiennso eht all. Tcinuymom cbaseue iahectutn lla eilf lduib !uyo pkee lufl tarehvwe uyo gapieloalloytc nlgoa ngiilv lsoiac uoy euvo'y a cna ogind nbee ntaw oury iebng do buato ti on nda maide. .
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Ni ehd's rortes luocd lelt su thta hewli elif aveh i old os pdraetp seh abuto nowt hte 71 meaderd aery we og nad ywa smlla eflt ackb wsih seh. .
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Loev uyo i. For os i uregltaf uoy am. Rneev gvea up ouy. Ughinps yuo etpk. Euvrvsid eflhres uyo htsi wose ot nieusoh oyln cscseus a smeo eo,irlhbr adn rtyos it yuo how aer. Rehe gnogi omrf humc to ickk do os tou, ew and were' it ewre' to sas ogngi wveareth no jneoy. Ayw ettpian het ink,d lliw we as dan yslwaa, of on we ohest tcenrnoeu groifvign be dan. .
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Elv,o.
By o)nw og ali ail (we.

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