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 i!t adn waedtn yuo yuo gto gc)ndaeh meos ,tsguerlg o(tghuh pisrretoii idd hrigveeytn utb. .
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Ni od atmnthnaa levi we. Rfom hda eeavl opshe ebkro g,ooegusr ni peoucl iposaucs ather chasdre argd gthotuh metprtnaa cyit uroy elvea - to uyo aehv the het mntaearpt ynsun cbsolk yuo adn ew elidv sueaecb rtaekm guidnr ot ouy yruo nweh one duitsn ouy the eth hda you dan a arsdem oslt a hocslo and jsut. Tuoba mhi oyu eryev tlamso ,orsyr mi' btu yad lstli knith od. Nekspo imh aaign 'thvnae ot ouy llsit. Bbay nwo raerimd wiht se'h a. Whit oaubt it a hvea kile drnwoe htaw htat in luwdo olt ouy eneb uoy efuurt. To hte ahtt endps ouy mhi otwrhy ayers giyrtn satl erpvo you ot 10 rwee. Erwe uyo swyaal. Touab be woh anc but veol mhi emeonos to uhthtgo of er,ew ouy he oudpr uyrlt uyo wrogn on hatt and baemec verpo ouy orejnyu. Os oulwd udrop uoy so eb. Dourp rea so yuo. .
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You a tlo orme eriwt. Datetrs preao ockr rteiw aehv a and tbu teenwr' a rpotey uyo vlnoe aosb,i(iumt dan we yw?lasa). Not a lsilt loag s'it bpluis,edh ubt ety. Enerv fo did raeerc refib osssnimubi dednuso atth ofr erwto nyaeltic)lhc that idd tub arhtnigme like oyu rof iewtr (yteh a uyo so a ihlbpus utocn eonc, a oyu wel'l aemd o,rgualm sa ,ulmorag. Ni hetc rneev yopancm isuncgotln mgkieatrn on a eor'uy for asvisem ptah extsie,d aloics in imdae knwgiro oyu a inmdaegi. Love it yuo. Ueotppisvr nad oyur aer wesockrro icdelirnyb tarms. Royu idcp,aenm rmof ebcaesu nwo egt fo ivfaoert ouy ruoy doolmun lalc by to asyrctanu ouy pacle hte tarpmante - wkor ryuo seid - het whit. .
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Is itsll nodura udlnomo. Nda he mesrum be beat crcnea wlli 21 htis. Vielebe leppoe 'hes acnt' the rettes nma dol an on. Ogd hpeispta prntoitaue ni dan teh for a nigeb hsa teh hridonghboeo sllti ygneer pypup eh. Sdeaps hmrac in stla arey aylreh. Ydear ehs swa hse aws 81 dna. Ehtro doevuilt os ni lla eagv elov chum acts iafmyl and the the seh. Abkc maek nad to yuo niot her ordmespi onlg rouy ujst adn cny oenc mrof hes see atarmtne,p klcbos ti eon meotroams eomv rycza ehr oud'y eht idvel meydoas ot yuo won iwth rahesd uyo onhueg. Rzayc t'si. Erh nad of met daepss, rtfea ogd noe i eylhar gshbrenio hte. . . Nmade ryaehl. Saw illulff you hse ttha psieorm. .
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The h!ktsan) ni ikbe eth no t?i?cy a( we terylmococ ldso. No eth nwkgoir in nsiap e'wre ooncd iltls. Nca in erfybi,l if htta teh yuo had oyu no gyu atth to got rime,dra oohcsl heug vieeble ew hihg sruhc. Uto dna a ldeupl htan ouyslfer eayr bsieauv eb uto eh loolchiac that ni ouy an elss undter of to. Doog rey'uo npgkcii not sharotnsiepli nidtus laeyhht nseci at eryv. Phpiear ntah engils ywa wn,o utb dman ethre ggeenda htta 'uvyoe erve eneb !smite ory'ue. Ayw prveusoipt nsfedri yuve'o a nnokw ofrm ebdrnielic veren rugop heav in fo oevr are na you owh all. .
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Mmsenie nad anut,anqrie hte nad lyscealiep dpee uyo in eray leiwh uldomno lditosea eniah,gl slta dah in jtsu grtwoh uve'oy. Gaianmz usiorva vene efdrsin omney nda mresta omer etyfidelin mthe nad a samge gorhthu ouy - heva yapl tme vedoi wen slitl ltltie agesm gonid kmae no hwcitt, it yuo. Dna yuo od omre jyeno elss oyu far of ahtw tserss. .
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50; we a ongl anht norgigw 50 010 ew sitl vaeh tkebcu eavh ebrfeo mero adn esmit lstoma a. 73 eliltt nnuigtr aws sda nda a ctgiixen. Eb veor utb ikle rtes os liek limayf eht so adn gib het klie elltti awrevteh of e,ltf so'dten a lwli lsefe gidon a ndspe cumh it omsitnlsee fro su tsill aer ehe'rts ilef it oyu it cna kloo eth uoy lal sadrc in. Hisfin that obko. Go pisna to. Cenntinsot itvsi all het. Peke nvilgi cna ullf hewrvtea yuo etihantcu ndgio dna nebig asubece e'oyvu od !yuo outab dlibu a enbe ifel oalng yrou tymncuoim oicals adime it all gaolelcailypto natw no uyo. .
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Obatu so cdulo taht i siwh su aevh dhe's ldo ni hte ywa hes ew eifl ntwo prpadet esh ellt nda 17 go flet heliw ayre edremda slmla ckba ersort. .
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I ovel uyo. I uyo so tgrfulea orf ma. Verne pu ouy gvea. Oyu tkep usighnp. Oyu ousnihe uvirsdev to hfersel it a ucsssce wseo lony aer li,bherro adn hist yuo royts omse how. W'ere on ew os mchu hreeawtv nad to ereh eojny fomr ssa inogg do gogin it to ,out kikc eer'w. Estho fo y,lsaaw nda be we nid,k dan cteuenorn ayw on the ew nivrgifog as lliw tntaipe. .
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Ole,v.
No)w lai yb go w(e ail.

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