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 idd uyo soem got ewnadt oiitrrsiep !ti oyu and tub ,rgegustl danh)gce tenhregiyv toh(hgu. .
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Ivle we ni nahmaantt do. Hte a lhsooc lost het ouy asedmr uoy ot rgad olcpeu rofm ahd ityc tnrpetaam rhtea ebeasuc yuo - a yruo utoghth sohep aeelv nda oyu dan wehn oyru elvea rtamntepa lokscb dan ot yunsn aevh nsiudt ew one tjsu you rnigdu het hte evldi amketr kbero rhceads hda ni ousscpai r,oosggeu. Ro,rys lsaomt tihnk verey him od mi' yda you btu tuoab itlls. Ot eonspk him gaani avt'enh slitl you. Own thwi edrimra s'he a abby. Thwi nbee weornd duowl in uoy abuto htwa ttah aevh yuo iekl it lto uutefr a. Oyu npdes were yrohtw hte ouy iryntg ot aslt verpo ayrse ot imh tath 01. Ewer uoy alwasy. Urodp emcbea rew,e ot oyu evlo ttgohuh hmi on wongr who cna eh htta osmneoe nad oyu ubato ubt uyo be ulyrt roepv of nuoejyr. Dowlu so eb so duopr uoy. Drupo oyu so era. .
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Lot uyo a mero wriet. Kocr a yl)awa?s hvea adrtste (b,tmosaiiu ew neew'rt nevol uoy a dan poear orptye rtewi btu dan. Yte tub aolg i'st pdies,bhul a stlli tno. Klie a enver utb manrigeht udondes ipslubh of e,ocn uoy uyo for ynht)aeiclcl idd tocun sa uoy a rbief a emda th(ye grumoa,l lelw' owtre htta ttha uga,rmlo so uimssnobis did ietrw orf racree. Nerve ni aiiemngd you eadmi rfo essvaim clgutinosn a eyrou' xeesit,d mitgnkera on in iaclos apht hetc a ymcnoap gnorikw. Evol it uoy. Biindylcre nad uoyr rsutpvepio rwsckrooe era mtras. Cenadmpi, teg odomuln by uryo - yuo to yrou - nramtpate ieoftrva hte own ouy lcepa yrou okwr artcnayus isde ecuaesb of the wtih mrof lcal. .
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Numldoo is stlli noudra. Btae wlil umrems be 21 eh dna itsh caencr. Esh' eth on anm seettr dlo ct'an eoeppl na eibevel. Orf het ahs iorhdhboonge odg ntiaurtepo he hte nreyge ni and a thpepasi pypup litls neigb. Yrea ramch aslt rehayl ni assepd. Ehs hse 81 yeard was adn wsa. The os the vleo tvoieldu dan in yimalf cast geav htreo seh lal cmuh. Nolg nad now lediv ouy eugnho hwti mrof erh ot hes cabk evom lboskc usjt daerhs ncy motameors ouy neoc oyu y'duo ryuo eno it adn oitn doaeysm reh to crzya prmedsoi ekma the see amptaer,nt. Czyar sit'. Spesd,a osihgrben one alhrye eth fo i dgo tme her and artef. . . Yherla madne. Mioprse esh uyo atht asw fiullfl. .
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No teh (a teh beik we k!)tshna rcyemctool dlso t?cyi? ni. No teh llsit e'rew nocdo griowkn in psain. Ot ew hcsur can htta yug fi on ghih you ebeivel had tog mi,raerd gueh hte oyu hatt cshool flirbye, in. Calclohio nad ntah eulpld that olsufyer tou lses eh a you otu fo euasbvi ni turdne eb na ot reay. Oodg thlyaeh dtinus shilnproteisa gincpik iencs uroey' otn ta eryv. Ttah btu deeangg tnha yoeru' uoy've mnad mtis!e nebe n,wo pahepri evre ayw three ensilg. Fomr lal niesfrd vneer ear fo 'euovy aveh a over ni way hwo gropu na kwnno uyo reielinbcd psoprvutei. .
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Oudomln wotgrh raye dna in ujst e'uyvo ehiwl alst you eth dan sidaloet cyeeiaplls nnru,ateqia epde dha emmsien gnhea,li ni. Oyemn nad gasem eevn esdnirf maziagn it pyla itlelt tehm wne yuo make a cht,itw ieovd diogn and llsti neidlfyite oerm evha htughro sgema on tmsrae etm uyo - rvoisua. Uyo nda eomr ouy far do of neyoj esls what tsrses. .
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100 tsiem 50 lsatom eavh eorm veha erboef a ew nggrowi 5;0 ekcbtu a adn ognl ltis atnh we. 37 iurntgn inetcxgi swa sad a dna tlteli. Ouy warheevt nigod f,etl lla rfo dna the yuo of lkei it ubt stre lfie ibg fmlyia us dcars estr'he the it so het eodt'ns elitlt sllti cna so a enspd hmuc oteisnmsle ni ekil it sflee rae reov wlil lkoo ekli eb a. Hsinfi taht okbo. Go to psain. Otecnntnsi all hte tvisi. Ekpe od ngebi a mcintmoyu uhtcniaet uyor egpatcylolioal !ouy gnviil adn can ahevtwer dluib oyu csiloa vu'eyo eben fllu wtan all elfi eidam uoy nidgo gnoal tubao ecaubes it no. .
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Dlcou hesd' ayw hes notw i wihs atht 71 seh ni elft aedpprt srerto kabc elhiw obuat eary eahv ielf og eth old ew nda letl dmedrea lmsal os su. .
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Uoy i ovle. For egurflat so i ma uyo. Renev ouy vgae pu. Ouy tepk guhnsip. Soem eosnuih a nlyo how ti wose ouy iusdrvve nad erboi,hlr to uyo scsceus flsrhee ysrot era shti. Ojeny ti uhmc do so we'er nad we we're ot here no ass igogn ofmr ngiog evretahw out, kick to. Nuorcenet as lliw eb fvgiriogn nda nad no tpntiea y,aalsw ew eth ik,dn awy of ew estho. .
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Lv,oe.
Ila go yb w(e own) lai.

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