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...

Gto )dgencha uoy gou(hht you tyvrheegni and stieriiopr you idd !it moes ndaewt utb rg,lstuge. .
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Eivl we tatnnamha do in. Het hda you osholc elvae a hda treha dcearsh rtanptmea dingru ur,ooegsg hwen hpseo laeev psuascio rmeasd ot snynu to eth a ctyi you vilde vahe atekrm - teh hte utsj istnud cepulo uyo uyo we dan you thhugot omfr oen gdra yuro dan ni olkbsc rekob yuor ltso and eacbeus tpaartmen. Tboau nkthi hmi tub you do lltis mi' ayd yeerv maltos ,oryrs. Uyo ot igana npeoks stlil 'tvhaen hmi. Hitw now dirarme a bbay h'se. Hatt uoy oautb fuetur eebn ekil it wdeorn vaeh oyu owudl tol ni a atwh ithw. 01 ot ouy ysare itrgny erew mih stla hrytwo evpro the ot pndse yuo hatt. Oyu erwe alsawy. Lruyt to dan mooseen yoejunr hgotuth you you ubt revpo he toabu ruodp ihm ngowr taht no wr,ee uyo of beacme be cna lveo owh. Be wuold so you os doupr. Ouy os updro are. .
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Olt werti uyo a remo. I(,otaismbu etoryp tub rdettas a ahve a olenv aas?yl)w dna tr'wene okrc ew oyu irwet adn aoper. Tbu yte agol spidube,hl a llist nto 'sti. A rcreea for dmea natlhyiec)cl nc,oe ddi owetr a so fo kile ddi uyo evnre m,oualrg sdndoue tub sa y(eht buplish tath atht fro a aeignthrm siioumssnb 'lewl otcun iewtr aumlrgo, uoy fiber ouy. A in a iaemtngkr coalis ssmaiev ni ,xetedsi ofr enerv cteh pymnoca e'ruyo uoy adeim knwiorg ahtp no geimniad lgtnunosci. Uyo ovel it. Yoru kcwsreroo era oeprtisvpu smrta dna ryibniedcl. Pm,encida teg mrof yuro aeplc uoy ised wkro uyo by - rouy uroy - het htwi hte fivraote allc of mdlnuoo to tapnratem curantays now ucsbeea. .
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Tlsil si dmonlou daurno. 21 thsi be eatb he mmsrue adn accren lliw. Eetstr tanc' e'hs lebeive elopep the old an anm on. Lltis nda piatpshe a eht he in enibg pyppu neoraptiut sha ereygn gbnioeohdhro ogd rof the. In lsta harcm ralhye erya despas. Seh adery swa seh dan was 81. Mfaiyl the htroe in acts she aveg olev os dna hte lla vuieltod humc. Ymaedos edhars egonhu uyor ehr oen itno razyc het irpeomsd see amke ehr ncy aresoomtm to 'duyo oyu slbkoc rfmo kbca moev noec won uyo ogln whti to dan nad it ,patatenrm jsut oyu vidle esh. 'its arzyc. Lyeahr tem saesd,p erfta rhe dan hte fo one groshbnei i dgo. . . Rayehl adenm. Uoy htat swa oerpmis seh ifllluf. .
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A( !htsn)ka ni eht bkei teh c?ti?y dlso on we lerotmycoc. In re'ew oodnc iapsn lstil het on igkrwno. In ouy if yebif,lr yug ahd lsocho no uhsrc hhig ot can taht oyu eth ae,ridrm vebeeli that hegu tog we. Eusvbia dan aeyr hocilcoal to an slse peludl eb tduenr a tou tuo fo atnh htat eh ni ouy olufrsye. Nto elahyth enapislishrto ure'oy usnidt at escni ciknpgi gdoo evry. Liengs atth dnam i!smet gangeed erhet o,wn tub yv'euo neeb u'ryoe rpaiehp eerv than ywa. Rmof in hvea verne an frndsie of elicrdbnie ayw a ouy known lal rgpuo erov rspuoeitpv hwo ue'ovy rae. .
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Slta dna and ogwhtr ouy het ilehw ahd in depe semmnei just lnoodmu in ovu'ey idatolse raye epcyleaisl t,innaeqaru lhie,gan. Haev lapy video emt oyu ehtm agmes dlenfiieyt gindo adn ti vene orme vaiuosr nifders cti,twh ewn seamg hhtugor noyem on and you etlilt tlisl amgainz - a kmea estram. Fo uoy mero od lses awht arf you yjneo ssrest and. .
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Tils ew veha rome nda eistm tubeck efbreo 001 a a tanh 05 nwogrgi 5;0 olasmt ahve nlgo ew. Sad eticngxi 37 wsa nad rgnnitu lliett a. Bgi of itltel a kiel cumh su rest oevr so a lal nca adscr eerht's the ilke aer snltmoeesi ifylam uyo in eb tbu el,tf hte vehaewrt gndio ofr enpds it ti illw loko the doet'sn uyo leif leki adn ltsli so lseef it. Fiinhs book htat. To niaps og. Snnniteoct teh lal itvis. Autob lulf ekep ou!y eiactunht ilvgni e'vuyo deami nac ndiog isoalc eenb a nawt all gbein no seubcea ouy dna ti od oyu tearwhve ruyo ayaeiclopoltlg ldiub anlog eifl uonitmcmy. .
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I ew ni tlef meredda ielhw tath 71 su 'ehsd esh so doluc ortrse awy adn yare eht swhi ldo otwn ckab mllsa uotba hvea peaprtd go seh file letl. .
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Lveo you i. Os fueagtlr rfo uyo i ma. Ouy rvnee up geav. Ktpe you huisnpg. Nad ynol suscsec ot ouy inoehus rdisveuv seom htsi ti aer i,rlerhob ohw sowe fehlesr uyo ysrot a. It on hcmu do we ckik os awehtver uto, iggno sas gngoi and ehre rmof to 'erwe nyeoj wre'e ot. Hoset anetipt lwli kd,in as fo be l,wayas ew ornfgigiv no dna eth eecortnnu yaw adn we. .
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,evol.
O)wn lai by go ali e(w.

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