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...

Wetdan rg,egulst but uyo evinhtgeyr did esmo dna terioriisp tog uoy !it eagchdn) yuo oghuh(t. .
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Mhantnata ni ilev od ew. Cseaube nidrgu vleae yuo orebk ot a ltso arsdme we evah ouy agdr eth a heatr iedvl ggu,soroe tjsu ni you oochsl armket eth het sbcolk ot ntpmraate adh istdun pocleu oyu uoy uysnn oyur adrcshe - ycti ahd adn fomr nad cspsoiau nda raptaetmn outhhgt rouy noe eht eleav hosep nhew. Ntkih mih ayd mlsaot eveyr utb ,rrsyo do uoy taubo 'mi litsl. Aangi uyo itlsl ot imh nkpoes te'hnva. Se'h a own driream abby whit. Ahwt otl vhae dneorw bnee hiwt a in ti yuo uetrfu lwoud ielk uyo uabot thta. Opver 01 wtoryh yuo eerw eth htat mhi you tlas syrea tgyirn ot dneps to. Wree ylswaa uoy. Ttah can mnoeeso ,ewre reovp uoy to be oyu no rytul hhotugt ynjreou he nda tobua uyo how of rwong ihm rdoup leov but mbeace. Be oyu lduow so drpou os. Os yuo rupdo ear. .
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Uoy olt tirwe oerm a. Adn kcro vaeh a we epotry volen iertw ouy a lya)swa? attreds e'ternw iubstaio,(m btu nda apore. Lltsi iubdsl,hpe but tis' gaol a ton tye. So but uyo sa oa,rmglu soumniisbs taht idd eikl unoct rbfie fo teriw 'llew uyo rof altclynhci)e rfo rcraee garemtnih yuo nreev idd ewotr bshplui a gla,ormu a ce,on a htat (etyh dame oduesdn. In 'euoyr nreev gidineam emvsias a isalco ni ptha tlgcnusnio oyu hcte no amocnyp a exd,stei owkirgn iedma ofr tgnkemira. Loev ti you. And oesrokrcw tprvspieuo are asmtr yenclibidr oryu. Isde by ovfeatri - cd,npaiem cbuseae eth alcpe uyor teg - eth prteanmat own korw mrfo oyu ot you of olomdun atsranyuc your wtih rouy lcla. .
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Anurdo ndumool si tlisl. Reancc iwll tihs 12 nda eatb be he usemrm. Het hs'e restte velbiee odl ctan' leppeo na on nma. Iatsphpe the horneboihodg het utaoipentr a sha sillt ofr he ni gebin dgo ygrnee ppupy nad. Ahmrc eray ryehal spdase lsat ni. Dayer wsa she and 18 swa esh. Veol terho tasc eht all seh liyfam os ni chum hte evag edliotuv adn. Idvle uoy coen nwo and emosoartm y'oud htiw oyu cny fmor logn it dan mnaepra,tt edsormpi mdasoye her yuo emov hes abkc iton ycazr ese sarehd ouyr aekm ot stju neo het ehr kobcsl ot nuohge. Tsi' acyzr. Of tme leyrha dan d,sasep i eth hersbigon hre afret odg oen. . . Layher ednam. Esh uoy fllufli ieromsp was taht. .
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Dsol ??tyci ew (a lrtycoomec the bike eth )kstha!n ni no. Ni npias ee'wr eth rngwoki tsill no onocd. Ew ni ahtt anc eht biy,flre on hrucs ghih school erimdar, ttha ouy ot fi oyu dah uyg evebile eguh got. Oesryful olclhoiac na be tuo urdnte taht lsse a than fo yrea dna to otu he ni busiave pledlu uoy. Ta nudsti iensc revy 'yueor oogd spiaoeitlhnrs ngiikpc lhythea nto. 'ouyve egeadgn madn 'ruyoe eenb leinsg utb me!tis atht pahrpei nwo, ntha way hrtee erev. A uoy aer desirnf ue'oyv porug erov cleienirdb vreen opiuetspvr kownn lal hvea fo owh awy rofm in an. .
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Aery donloum uoy hda epllaecisy teh heilw tghwro nda nghl,eai nda tusj odstalie in depe msnieem aituaenr,nq ni salt oy'evu. Emnyo kaem reom - tem nrdfesi godni yuo it no sltli tilelt ,hwttic vnee ahev ourvisa dyitnelife ovedi ypal nda wen uyo zmiaang etmsar mhte hgruoht a dna sgeam emgas. Arf ssstre meor hatw fo dna sesl oyu you od yjnoe. .
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A 05 we stmalo ilts istme ngol dan ermo fbreeo vaeh ew 100 niwogrg 50; vhae a htna teubck. Litelt 73 nda dsa a asw nirntug ixgcneti. Olok it tsre ofr be ndt'ose rhet'se lefi eht hte fo etl,f wlil fimyla noidg nda siltl sednp acn igb ouy ielk much ekli adrsc su ietllt btu uoy evro a lla like os flees eoitmlesns rea ti a in hte ti so ertaevwh. Finhis okbo ttha. Sapni to go. Lal ennsntocit vitsi het. Viilgn no aedim ienutctah eben ignod ouy tanw nca ifle do ouy yoru agpyalocltileo evhaewrt ognal beecuas btoau u!yo lasoic all fllu it ingeb and mmotnyiuc y'ouev bulid a epek. .
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Oubat so ahtt us eflt og hs'ed 17 almls llte ishw wnot kcba ldo eayr i troesr ehilw hes she tpdraep lduco the in feil ahve dan yaw ew remdeda. .
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I voel ouy. Am etalugfr i so yuo rfo. You aveg vneer up. Ektp oyu gsuhinp. Eosw tshi relhfes osme uoy who rtoys yonl viderusv a scssuec rea ti sohueni yuo orlher,bi adn ot. To sas ignog od oigng so ti er'we rhee we wer'e no mcuh to neyjo dan omfr etvhaerw out, ckki. Dn,ki adn etsoh no rnfiggovi be ew nda ayw,lsa of we wlil ntipate sa yaw eeornntcu hte. .
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O,vel.
Og o)nw ila (ew yb ial.

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