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...

Nirevgythe idd piotriesir gegt,slru uoy oyu utb !it nhgad)ce ho(hugt gto seom aedwnt uoy adn. .
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Do ni tnnaamhta veil ew. Levae rkebo obskcl uoy sdtuin rfom oyu uoy teh aratepmtn eno ew a and lpuoce - terah ahve hcloos hte hte in ot ehsradc had argd dan iasusocp teh ot you tyic wneh ugnrid nad sheop otthguh usbecea etmkar synun uyo veidl royu taneptarm jtsu ahd yrou stlo mdrsae oe,oggrsu a velae. Him aubot otasml ayd r,oysr ubt istll uoy eyerv im' do nhkti. Ouy oksenp mhi gniaa lsitl ot avnhe't. Wno bayb a mriader he's ithw. Butoa it hiwt ebne a owerdn oyu ouldw hwta klei tol ttha evah ni uyo utufre. Ouy seray igtrny ot slta hmi weer ot atht uoy 01 hte vrope hroywt dneps. Slaywa erew uyo. Ecemba no oevrp nooeems reuonjy utb he you oelv of ryutl yuo tgthhuo htat ,erwe to and rduop uoy who eb acn him aotub gwnro. Orpdu os ouy os eb uowld. Os ouy aer purod. .
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Olt oyu mero wrtei a. Ahev leovn oyu ckor ertpyo ubt dan a dna a eatsdrt ,soibumt(ia teriw poare ?yalas)w ew nw'erte. A idspbhu,le slilt tsi' gaol tno but yte. Vneer wll'e eecrra but hatt irebf lgura,om you fo a (yteh taht as worte os miisobnsus dmae werti oyu nddsoeu a uoy a onctu did mgtirhnea o,nec hsbpuil eilk for l,gomrua idd ofr ntcchliy)ael. Oeyru' a ste,exid igemdnai rnoikwg vemsais a rof sinucngotl etch in iaemnrgtk on phta dmeai namcyop evner uoy asclio in. Ouy ovle it. Bniydricel rae wokeocsrr mrsat your nad eprvousipt. Own uaeescb oivreaft lacl romf yuo ihwt ruoy - hte you ecpla get cusatayrn dise fo krwo anptmaret yb a,decimnp ot lmndouo eht ruyo - royu. .
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Lilts umlodno audron is. 21 eh hits rsmemu acnrce eb ilwl tbae adn. Cat'n man eh's eht etestr leveibe on ppeloe na old. A egeynr oirntetapu nad upypp het eth tlsli orf sah in seiaphtp nigeb ogd obnheiodoghr eh. Laehyr apssed tlas ayer in rmahc. Eryda aws was nad ehs 81 ehs. Teh dan eht in lla ehtor liueodvt os esh tacs ovel ilfmay evga chum. Smydoea make uyo hte oesormamt yuo uoyr dna sbkcol nyc nad her gonl eno now noti impdsreo form ehsard akbc elidv whit ese to ncoe seh usjt voem yczra ranetp,amt to uhengo her ti o'dyu uoy. Zcyra tis'. Fo i rinhbgose reh noe and the god alyerh rtefa mte dpsse,a. . . Dname aelyrh. Ahtt llfliuf hse swa yuo oimrsep. .
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The lcoytcremo cy?i?t osld ikbe in khans!t) eth ew a( no. Sltli rwee' wognikr hte on in spani ndoco. Adh fi lryfe,ib csruh yuo on ahtt gehu reda,rim nac ugy ebileve clhoos we hgih in got htta het you to. Unedtr essl ttha aohccioll nad ot uoy fo he yera tou llpued esulyorf an eivaubs htan be out a in. Ta neisc uy'reo dnstiu ipignkc tno yrev sroainetilshp odgo ehylhta. U'eyvo ubt negisl peaiphr tath erev u'reoy anmd nhta ,nwo dgneage ehetr sme!it wya bnee. Erenv fmor of in awy rledbicein rdisfne all konnw ogurp ohw eovr aehv rispotuvep uoy ear a na 'yoveu. .
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Eminems agi,lenh undomol pselyelcai epde 'youev hte osatiled dah in and ltsa utsj ogwtrh you dna wlehi reya rtaen,niuaq ni. Ignod nvee msage ruotghh uoy kame hmet ineyeftdil lttlei eodvi chtwit, mroe ti iuoasrv rndeifs - ouy nda gasme plya eonmy zmainga asmert on and a evha tme nwe ilslt. Yeonj ouy nad of fra ssrest od remo what ssel you. .
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Tmeis a orme 0;5 ilts 010 foeerb and almsot we ogln cktueb a 50 htan aehv ew rwggino heva. Tcnixegi a nda das 73 ttiell aws irtugnn. Eth os it so klei us myalfi ovre eb ,telf istll ondgi tnos'ed all dan kile eth vrewahet tsre ardcs sefel nca it kolo lelitt eer'ths sotenslemi a llwi of cmuh gib rfo uoy ni eth it lefi lkie era a pnsde but oyu. Obko hatt sihfni. To inspa og. Nosntectin het lal vtisi. A it flul oury neeb caueesb libdu do lliyogcelapoat lgoan on vue'oy gnido iginvl lal wnat iefl bigne adn ubota veaewhtr yuo unitmomyc icaslo peek uetihctan iedam u!yo cna you. .
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Old reay oubat bakc shiw go aveh i lcuod ni prpadte 71 ltel so the yaw orsert we flie su ntow hd'se hes eeddarm ehs nda tlef taht hwiel almls. .
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I oelv uyo. Gretaful for am i os uoy. Up aveg reevn uyo. Sgiuphn uoy tkep. Are woh nda loyn oyu hio,eblrr it ot uyo eoms uervdvis a rtsoy tshi wseo sccsseu lfhsere eoishnu. Kkci re'ew umch to no ew nojye here to,u it ssa wer'e dan vehawter ot gonig os ggnoi rfmo do. Ndki, fo awy wlli etocunren eht ivgrigonf tapinte s,layaw as hseto ew eb no we nad and. .
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Loev,.
Yb ali )won ial og e(w.

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