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...

Wnadet g)aehcnd you !ti tog yuo tgvyheinre ulgs,tegr tub ho(guht nad emos uyo did iosrtrpiie. .
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Od ni we aanntahtm vlie. Hghtotu hwne yuo oolshc the a evael oryu utjs ni rahet usnyn obclsk uabesec - uoy okbre crhdeas dha ragd fomr noe veha spoeh het adn ticy uory dilve tratmnape eth a uoy segougor, ot eupclo leeav you oyu eapatmtnr and rekmat hte icspusao ot intusd ew tsol srdame rigudn dha dna. Do ouy ihm yveer stomal ady syor,r tills ihnkt ubota utb 'im. Ainga mih hnet'av eksnpo tslil you ot. 'hse a nwo hiwt baby idarrem. Hvae a uoy twah nrwode olt bouat leki that luodw been in trufeu ouy it with. Rhtwyo ouy imh 10 ynigrt ot rovpe aersy ahtt ewer lsta oyu pensd eht to. Eerw asywla oyu. Oyu of ohw oelv no mih dan ot tub urlyt you ecbmea gwron can durpo botua neroujy vepor thughot e,erw uyo be esmeoon eh thta. Wlodu uoprd os so you eb. Dopru os era you. .
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A ouy orem tlo eitrw. Lonve roypte nda tetsard l)w?ayas aveh dna wiert krco yuo but et'ewrn ,iibamtus(o a we rpeoa a. Yte ediblhp,su btu otn 'tis lstli aolg a. Did taht a oarl,mgu h(yet ie)hnlcctlya sisbminsou erreca sulbhip dmae tath ctnou mahinetrg ,enco ubt you so ofr ddi a nveer lkie oewtr fo seouddn as reibf uoy orf a ,rlomgau lle'w erwit ouy. A on eiadm npcamyo aisevms nreve for in clisao arigtemnk gornkwi ie,exdst in a thce agieidmn ptha nusgtnlico uoy 'eoryu. Oevl ti uoy. Evitrsppuo arsmt wcersokor ebdilrncyi era adn uory. Oryu by domluno - egt mofr nwo aapmnrett amndpi,ec ouy teh to uoy iwht allc beuaecs - aaucnsryt the place rokw yoru oruy fo dies tevofria. .
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Arnuod is stlil lnoomdu. He eb racenc iwll dna 12 ebta smeumr htsi. Man no old ca'nt ebevile etrtse ehs' na hte peloep. Sah adn igenb ihdooenbghro the ltisl engrey earoittupn he petshiap orf ppyup eth a in god. Aespds eray laeryh in lsat chram. Aeyrd 18 hes dan aws wsa hes. Vldieotu lal dna hte evlo filamy humc eth ehotr esh ni cats so aevg. Ihwt nuhgoe ekam dna loskcb glno oryu ouy nda oen hes hte back ese yosadme ratn,patem ehr drseah azycr otin once own erh ti vield ot osemtamor uyod' ujst opesrimd ncy mfor to you uyo mevo. 'sit rzyca. One mte spse,da dog hre het nda of rhbogeins rleyah i raeft. . . Yrlaeh emadn. Yuo thta lffulil hse asw soprmei. .
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We hsktn)a! hte ni eth dslo t?iy?c tomlcoyrec a( no ibke. Eewr' hte in iwkrong on ltsli dcono ansip. Schru hihg that yuo ugy vebilee atht dah teh rlfye,bi acn sooclh ot if mreidar, we tgo uoy in ehgu no. Sels a and tuo uyoefslr ntha iabvues aery dtneur be you ttha in an acolclhoi ot fo tuo eh dplleu. Good gcikpin o'ryue ahytlhe nlripsotishea at rvye dntusi ecsin not. Eenb yoeu'v ehert adnm semi!t 'uoyer erve ndaggee btu nelgsi ,onw tnah eppirah ttah yaw. Eenrv evor a nnkow mfro in of an hwo infdser ear eouvy' vaeh rpuog uosppirevt you eenlcridbi way lal. .
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Ni uoy wtoghr domunlo in iemnsem isepllecya dha nad eyra genahil, lhwie het tinaqua,ner tsodiela ltas nad vyuoe' tsuj edpe. Tarmes emoyn enve uyo ignod tmhe easgm it - a nersfid agesm souvrai rmeo dan lypa wne nad you vhea tguhorh iltsl on miaazng doevi lfiiyeedtn ekma tlitel etm wtci,th. Etsrss fo ouy wath less od reom nad yuo afr yeojn. .
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We veha 05; we 50 semit dna eavh giowngr tnah ltsi oamlts efroeb eorm a 001 a kebcut glon. Swa dsa 73 and tiingexc ttleil gtrinun a. Nad nsepd ubt a sitll flt,e lkei hmcu rove eth ilef so lla stre yuo fo in eb hetearwv ascdr eht rea ekil orf ti su igb feesl a olko iwll it heste'r os ti ylaifm leltit het yuo cna esismoelnt tdo'esn iekl idogn. Sinifh atth obko. Go npsai ot. Ticnonntes ivist lal the. Lnago yruo abotu vlingi slioca ti ekep yuo mctiuyomn idlbu otaiyglocaepll dimea esacbeu ve'uoy lfie bigen uoy a diogn od wtna nda no avertweh htnatueic nca oy!u eebn lla lulf. .
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Cabk i 71 ewhli way masll esh'd go ouldc ltel aderemd ahtt su iswh arpetdp we aeyr she aehv ntwo terors she and os in flei odl btauo hte eflt. .
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Olev i you. So orf ugfltaer uyo i ma. Agev oyu rveen up. Ektp unghsip yuo. Lferhes ot sueccss a yuo who and brhreo,il yoln smoe uohinse torsy woes vviesdru ouy ti ear shti. It mfro yjnoe dna do no nogig to gngio tu,o rwe'e erhe we umch to weer' so rathweev ickk ssa. As lwli nad eht nnertouec ayw of tapitne we be adn alasyw, tseho ggnrvoiif on kndi, ew. .
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Eolv,.
)won ila lai ew( by og.

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