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...

Iertrsipio ti! uoy dan t(ohguh ddi edhagn)c ouy htigeenyvr r,seugtlg utb some gto etnadw uyo. .
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In lvie ttnaamnah od we. Kcobls and dha you isdnut otls tatprnmae hvea hte ustj rttaamnpe ouy ni oyu to ycit hotuthg atreh ouscspai darg adh uory dgurni hwen oyu cebusea - eeavl a het hte akrtem uysnn elvid osogue,gr loochs eth and aesdrhc masred you mfro ew royu dan eohps oen bkoer to veela ucpleo a. R,ysro itlls uoy imh tuaob tsalmo tbu ayd nkhti verey m'i od. Mhi osenkp ainga tan'vhe tlsil ot you. Rermaid htwi onw a se'h abyb. Ti tahw ilek hatt lto a ubaot uyo nbee ithw uyo uurfet nwdroe aveh ni uowdl. Hmi hte ttha 10 ot rtygin epsnd salt erwe epvro oyu hrtwyo eyasr oyu to. Oyu lyasaw wree. How ew,re him nda fo oyu no btu uyo uorpd be wogrn atth obaut ylurt to nujreyo he mceeab tthugoh nac seeoonm you eorpv vole. Os odrup be wodlu os oyu. Uoy os ear prdou. .
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Trewi tlo uoy meor a. You tweri alyas)?w topeyr nolev adn and ewtren' itsmbaui(,o aopre adrsett we tbu a a heva ckro. Aolg ety t'is otn utb ebhp,ildsu illst a. Sa for l'ewl fo blhuspi c,eno os a uyo tath uoy rfo idd vener did g,romlua echiynl)atcl ubt a riebf usodden erwit leik eadm etowr errcae yeh(t orlgu,am ssminobusi a count hatt mtgrienha uyo. Orwnikg or'yeu a nusigtolnc thpa on maedi cteh siaocl agdenimi ni ynomacp yuo grktimane fro enrve txiseed, a vamsies in. You ti voel. Ear mastr bneycilrdi oyru coorewsrk adn ovpiuseptr. Eth uroy get eids bcsuaee to yb sarcuntya - ouy form your own eaartntpm ,eicdpamn vroefiat lcla dmunloo korw oyu - htiw pacel of rouy hte. .
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Itsll rnaodu omonuld is. Baet rnacec eh isht nda illw 21 eb mrsuem. T'acn na lievebe man eth ldo leoepp 'seh trstee on. Niegb in ntuaeirpot the a idhneoogbrho god ltlis erneyg pppuy estppahi dan sah he rof eth. Ayre tlsa dsespa ni hmrac hlyaer. Esh rdaey dna aws 81 she asw. Aevg iylfma ni ilutdeov eth os lal otrhe hmcu she astc and teh oelv. Ehr nda doyu' neco leidv twhi olng it nda tmrsomeoa ckba readhs ync ouyr vome hes ouy rzayc the eon fomr you ot sujt uoy ta,epnmrat remsidpo own lcskbo eakm ot rhe tino ees sdeyoma nogheu. Ti's yarcz. Bhrenogsi etarf noe aylreh etm nda reh sepdsa, of dgo i eht. . . Rhayle mdaen. Swa ehs rmiespo you lluffil atht. .
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In y?it?c ew ceotrmolcy kbei on teh a( k!sn)aht het dslo. Cdono in irgwnok no eht re'we lslit pansi. If acn ew in ot rrdi,mea taht oyu f,elriby gihh guy that hoocsl tgo vieblee hte ushrc no ouy dha ghue. Fosleury oicalloch ueldlp ot nad tdnreu an uoy eh of erya a eb ni nhat htat eiabuvs otu essl uot. Censi dogo vrye yathleh kginpic ont astseorlinphi ruoey' ta nsudit. O,nw tath harppei stmi!e eehtr 'reuoy tnah aegdgen o'evuy gesnli amdn tbu enbe ayw eevr. Ovy'eu nwokn ni a pupvesorti vreo porgu lrenbiiedc veha of dfneirs rfom all na nvere how ear ouy way. .
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Het in edep ujts ,ataneqnriu hn,lgaei dna vyuo'e slat dna uoy cylapseeli ewhil dha aitdsole in rghwot eyra olduomn iesmmne. Make smgae ongdi on mte and eirsfdn - even evah ticthw, you lenyidfiet eiovd oisruav ehtm new huotrgh ti moyen ylap mrseta iltls gsmae lttlei ouy nda erom gnazami a. You sels thwa tssser ejony nad od of uoy eorm arf. .
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Anth cuebtk dan stmloa 010 mteis boeref mreo 0;5 we vhae glon hvea iwgognr a a 05 tisl ew. Sad inugtnr eiitxcng swa tlleti a nad 73. Liwl h'tesre lefi nca su uoy ltleit tbu be itsll dna rets ti all lmyafi het revo slfee of os ti dcrsa olok bgi eth enpds ofr ni like a tle,f hwervaet a rae yuo cumh nsotseleim it elik dgion so eht t'edons leik. Atth okbo finshi. Snpia go to. Eht lla viist cnostnietn. Oganl all cesbeau acn eben adn no efil eadim rtvheeaw ryuo casloi nvlgii uatob uyo uoev'y a atwn od ihactnteu laltoopylegaic gibne ti ountyicmm !uoy ullf uidlb yuo giodn ekpe. .
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Ehs slmla we utaob llet ouldc trreos nwto aevh hwlei 17 efil 'dhes old ryae ywa and cabk atth rtpeapd het hwsi us og maredde so ni i she etfl. .
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Leov i uoy. I fro uyo gaetfrul ma so. Uyo up agve rvnee. Yuo punigsh ktep. Oyu a rysto ccsssue adn ear fsrehel uversivd uyo erhblr,oi sewo ylno it ohw hsti ensohui ot emos. Od so to gigon r'eew nda mhuc ti hree ew ofmr ass oynej ,otu inogg vwetareh ot re'we on ikck. Eth ,lyawsa nnceterou be pienatt ywa no wlli as adn we fo ew dan ngiorgvif eohts nk,id. .
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Vo,el.
Og lai e(w lia nw)o yb.

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