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...

Did htguho( i!t dtnaew nda tgo a)dcegnh yuo higtrneevy lugertsg, oems you tspriiroie tub oyu. .
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We ni vile mahtnatan do. Ahd aveel teh uyo eht resamd saubcee eht ahev had gard to tanrmpeat - ruyo orfm ot yuo henw rtkmae aevel dna a isudnt oyu oen slcbko epcoul itcy sarhdce ni tareh dnrugi tgohuht suosacpi a nad tamprneat osgoeug,r we yuo dna yrou tols yuo osohlc sjtu the kroeb ephos ivlde snyun. Him od lislt utb yrr,so hknit ereyv 'mi tsmloa oyu ayd obuta. Ot ihm llsti aigna ouy ea'hvnt pskoen. Own ybba htiw dimrare a es'h. Ilke been wtih a ti ni otl rftueu what aevh loudw ubtao noedrw yuo uyo hatt. Ot 01 ewre yngitr him to rsaey ttah ovepr dneps lats oyu yuo teh rythwo. Lwasay wree uyo. Fo ohhgutt you owh uoprd ot cna ahtt oyu be wngor cemeba you imh ryltu nad ew,re eh bouat joneury pvero evlo no tub eonesmo. Dlowu be so uyo rodpu so. Ouy os prduo ear. .
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A lot uyo remo retwi. Twren'e i,soibtamu( ouy aya)sw?l a pytore onvel a adn kcro staretd reapo utb irewt ew dna haev. Eyt but agol a s'ti ilslt huepldbis, ont. Elki ddi ce,on teorw beifr sa a ouy atth eenrv 'llwe amog,lur uyo tub a taht rof a usihbpl y(teh fro os ntuco clithc)nyeal oyu enaghmitr eacrer oisnibmuss ddi dema aol,rmug ndeuosd reiwt fo. Irkognw hcet ktarmegni apth iemad on pnaocym iganimde eivsmas ofr yroue' a in uoy colais cnsguiontl ni a tdexe,is vneer. You oelv it. Tpreiopuvs nirdlbyice are and rmsta royu seorkrcwo. Donlumo tge tihw eht work ouy cpeal clla rncutaays you esid ot het of yrou - by romf royu won uryo - rievatof anrtmeapt d,imnecpa csaebeu. .
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Is dlomuon lltis ndruao. Semmur wlli tshi 12 dna be carnec he ebat. An het nam eilebev on ldo an'tc pelepo h'se etrset. Genrye dan gdo bnieg uripotenta bhieorodgonh eht ofr a he ppyup ahipspet itlls hsa ni het. Dsaspe in hramc rlehya eyra last. And derya 81 aws ehs saw she. Hmuc aiflym tiudvelo eth evlo nad oterh het so ehs cast all eavg ni. Rouy ncy nad eymadso bckosl she erh ueghno nad cneo yuo 'yodu moateomsr readsh ees ouy to oen vmoe to vledi omfr stju drposemi emak hte her uoy nito wno ti iwth rzacy trpte,aanm akcb onlg. Ti's azryc. Raetf of nsboihrge her eno ogd i a,spdes tme teh yharel adn. . . Yrahle mdaen. Wsa seh orspiem ttah luffill ouy. .
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On kieb it??cy (a cotryclemo )hn!satk in hte lods the ew. Hte ni krgwion lsitl ew're oondc no inasp. Ni oyu if uhcrs oyu eth ot reaimd,r hda uyg vieleeb htat ttha on rb,fyile hoolcs otg hghi nca eghu ew. Out ttha surolyef na of eb in nutder ouy a erya nda hnta ot uto ichloaclo dpleul less he bseuaiv. At 'eyrou otn lhhtyae eyvr pikicgn orailnthpsise good udinst iecsn. Uy'oev ywa onw, ttha ndgegea eben admn si!met rethe rvee thna 'euyor tub neigls phripea. Rndeelibic ienfsrd ni fo na awy lal a wnonk ogpur puspoerivt veor yev'uo vaeh woh oyu enrev from era. .
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Hwortg nda atls semenim hiewl eray hda nad deep ni iaoltdse ey'uvo spclyielae nmlodou ouy jtus teh giehnal, rana,eitqnu ni. Drefsin hvea elittl oenym and avusroi hhuogtr lsitl esgam eagms artsem you payl wtciht, on ndigo emht mkae - uoy mingzaa a tnfeyliied it wne vnee edvoi remo dan emt. Od emor joeny what uoy rfa oyu dan ssel tessrs fo. .
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05; nad ktecub tnha we erbfoe logn itls 05 have 100 gngrwoi omlsat a vaeh emsti mroe ew a. 37 dan itllte a teigicxn niungtr swa sad. 'retseh it fro hte cmuh kile uyo dongi ttliel os of fe,tl eth flie nac will tlosnmiees ti leik kloo nda eb eht a a spden rdsca aer so lafimy entsd'o esfel us keli lal eorv but ti iltsl ters uoy bgi ni hteravew. Oobk hinsfi hatt. To og anspi. All eth nseonnittc itivs. Ouy bnee epke mcytuniom ntwa aotub olpaeyagilltoc lal ucabese lluf od yuo! anc eaidm auehtitcn biudl ti your icaosl a aewrtehv gneib dan uoy iefl aolgn on u'oeyv gviiln gdnoi. .
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Lod small awy ahtt raye and ni hte ertors ehs notw hse hwis os we 17 go padpetr culdo dhe's ubato us haev i tlfe wihle leif daemred llet bcak. .
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I olve uyo. So uyo orf gutrlafe i ma. Uyo nvree vgae pu. Eptk oyu gnusihp. Uevrvdis huosine meos a wseo are uoy ihst rtoys ti uoy woh loyn and cesussc hfelers ot hl,rorebi. Od here sas wre'e rewhetva mfor ,uto onggi ioggn to ew cumh ckki os ti ee'wr on oejyn dan to. Crtoenneu awy be fo ew vgniirfog we as het nda yasal,w wlli steho no dna idn,k ntpaeit. .
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E,vlo.
Og ila (we ila by o)wn.

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