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...

Gn)edahc teanwd ouy did uoy rtieisoirp rgtlse,ug hh(tuog t!i hrengeityv yuo btu tgo omse adn. .
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Eliv ew od atntnahma in. Nad wenh yuro eon erkbo tslo rdga uroy - ahd to ustj a ouy the dan raetnaptm yuo dlive maesrd the ,soeoggru vaeel ew hguotth and elave etarh city npeaatmtr ceuopl kcobsl pussaico a ceaeubs gunidr hvea psohe ofmr ot cooshl unnys you dha uyo hte ni oyu eramkt het crdhaes tsndui. O,sryr lsilt m'i uatob utb do dya tiknh ervey ihm oyu atloms. Na'tvhe you ot sitll imh nopsek ignaa. A abyb twhi armdeir es'h nwo. You ornewd lot it uyo in batuo uwdol ruetuf ikel a eben htta ahtw heav twhi. Epdns tinryg hte imh to to ttah you syaer ovepr 01 yrtwoh ouy last weer. Wlysaa weer ouy. Oevl be thtugho yueonjr ot mhi rgown hatt esonemo ulytr erwe, adn yuo odrup of uyo baemce uyo eh auotb vorep how can tbu no. Oyu so be rdoup lodwu so. Drpuo era so oyu. .
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Iwtre you tol more a. Heav a nad sw?aa)ly a rewe'tn ouy ockr ew dtserat peora dan but prtyoe lnevo ,toimubis(a wteri. Ubt iltls ,edhpslbui a alog eyt tno sit'. Dame ouy ererca itcench)laly eusdodn lu,ogmra r,moulag a but htta ouy ddi ll'we yuo eorwt a fro so like netagrmhi ahtt orf as frieb puhibls (ehty fo a toncu ddi nerev ,cnoe suiobsmisn iwtre. Ecth ryeu'o a d,estexi iogwnkr ctnglounis opnamcy imade ptah in revne ialcso genidiam smvsaie ni a on for uyo kegmnirat. Oelv oyu ti. Smatr nad edbnciliry ekoocrrsw rea tpesupvori uory. Yuo thwi - won eth cbeasue by pclae fo amien,dpc ouyr alcl areiotfv wrok tge oyru rmfo oruy erntpatam acrysautn het omudonl uoy dies ot -. .
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Lsitl onaudr si lomndou. Wlli adn eh smruem rcneac 21 be beta itsh. S'he an c'nta oplepe eestrt mna eivebel no het old. Onioehdbohgr tpeihpsa fro regyne a hte teh sah pppuy and he pttruoneai ni tslli ebngi ogd. Rcmah ryae tlas aedpss in ralyeh. Hse seh adn yreda swa aws 18. Oevutild mhuc oehtr vole in dna hte so cast iymfal eht she vega all. Esomtaomr ees seh to gnlo cabk ysmaedo hte ryou nyc ti eamk nda rcazy 'oydu moev tena,tpram lcksob one uyo ot own uyo iwht uonhge erh irmesdpo saderh noec elvid adn fmor jtus uyo iton erh. Azrcy ti's. Noe met dgo eht egihrbons edps,as farte nda aherly i of her. . . Yhrlae nmdea. Hes moiserp asw thta ullliff uyo. .
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Ni eht no hte ibek yc??ti akh)n!ts ew sdol (a ceclytmoor. Eewr' on nwikgro itsll ni cdoon pnsai teh. Arr,demi uoy atth ugy slocho oyu gheu hhig atth churs hda nca iebevel no het otg ,rfybile we ni if ot. Elss and an eary nurdte out esviuba htna oyu a uot syufeorl fo to ni eb plduel eh ttha lchoilaco. Eryv odog aelhtyh otn ta nphisarietols cpgniki euory' dnutis ensic. Herte reev utb ayw n,wo nsegli yeouv' nmad eenb atnh eedgnga 'oyreu time!s pharepi htat. Rfmo owh yaw in an dericinelb oyu fdisner lal ogrpu heva roev nownk uspviprteo never a era eyo'vu fo. .
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Ineanatr,uq ounomdl dpee had ni yoveu' lweih arey utsj mneeism hte nda tghwro odiltase dna lats ni ouy nagel,hi liyaspeecl. Haev llitte ,tcihtw tme asgme a oediv you samge emor it tslli vene svoariu lpya zainamg mteasr hemt gohruht eymon uoy nfyetiiled oingd eamk dan dan on - wne sedirfn. Far sesl od athw rtssse enoyj nda mero uyo oyu fo. .
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Aehv itsl a 05; latmso ahtn 05 we wrnoggi and imtse obfree eahv a gonl 010 we remo uctbek. Saw a nad 73 sda ettlil ncixeigt nuntgri. Cdras the gib deo'stn ti uyo so eltlit it e'rtesh erov be look ouy hcum lefi tlsil eawterhv in falimy estr lkei of cna utb ilke ofr nsdep rae ft,el a all it hte gnodi lsoetisemn lkie seelf liwl so a su the adn. Ttah ihisfn book. Ot psain go. The all itisv nctnteinos. Udilb od ti weahtver lal sceubea ehutacnti uory uyo've ibnge uyo! ebne vilnig imotymcnu on nlgoa dan nac feil ouy idogn eaimd lflu a pkee tnwa asolic toabu ilaylceopatogl yuo. .
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Ubaot os go ttha heliw hes aehv etdaprp ontw hwis dhe's het 71 mllsa ltle lefi in we ryae odl bcak wya dedeamr seh eftl i dna restro us olcud. .
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Elvo you i. So ofr uyo am i trfluega. Gave up oyu eernv. Sunghip you tkpe. A tihs feelhsr re,horilb era it lyno esom and uvsievdr ot uyo trsoy ehnosiu who you wsoe ccsessu. To orfm reeh 'wree to nogig jyeno nad onigg ahtewrev ti kkci mhcu ew ass on do ewe'r ou,t os. Apeintt ,dikn we no alya,sw rtoneucne as iwll rivifgnog fo sthoe ayw ew hte dna be adn. .
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Ev,ol.
By lia ila go o)nw ew(.

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