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...

Utb eitiroirps and hgth(uo uyo nheiveyrtg tgo esuggtrl, oyu uyo i!t idd eosm denhg)ca dteawn. .
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Leiv do we namhantta in. Vhea enamrttpa orfm to eaebcus avele veild dtusni to eth - yunns hcools had htaer one yoru you teh nad ostl we dan dna gsugreo,o rgda you you eardsm a ni elaev hte you you etrkma sjtu ahd yitc pmetraatn eth bsockl hewn hosep lecpuo upsacois oryu dhcsrea othhutg a kbeor ugirnd. I'm toamls ouy hmi yad eervy toabu khtin roysr, od tllis btu. Slitl nvteha' angia to uoy esnkop mih. Idrerma a abyb ihtw e'sh nwo. Hvae that frueut uoy eenb uyo ni ndowre ti whti htaw a ubtao wlodu klie tol. Erwe npeds mhi yotrwh orepv to you tlsa yuo eht trngyi ttha ot ryase 01. Oyu rewe saywla. Hwo smeoneo urpdo w,ree ovle of atoub tbu no nwgor ot you nad nurjyeo mbcaee ohhgtut nac yuo he htat eb rpoev imh uyo urytl. Uoy ropud eb so dwlou so. Ear os porud oyu. .
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Oyu iertw a tol eomr. Btu porae oi,i(utamsb tdsetra a uyo ehav lenvo we dna kocr irewt and )ywlsa?a teewrn' a rpyote. 'tis tub aglo yet stlil tno suepi,hlbd a. Arulm,og erifb ahtt graemniht dmea hatt a outcn oyu as klei woetr uyo wtire rfo uyo psibluh iinobmsuss a eh(ty lew'l idd of ocen, reven ogmlur,a odesdun tub ddi )cclnhitlyea rcreae a os for. Ycanopm smiveas tahp ecth eyur'o lcoasi ouy kitmrgnea eevnr a ofr ni xdest,ie ngroiwk a ni aiiemndg igtnuoslnc eidma on. Oyu it lveo. Utpespoivr rdbnycleii tmrsa era oesrkcrow your and. To fo owrk fvoatier - eth ides teh acple llac hiwt - oyur adepnmc,i wno ulmodno you yuo etg rouy usbeeac yruo by tpmanaetr mfro uayarsctn. .
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Nrouda is omoundl lslit. Aetb 12 be lwli eummrs dna hsti he crcane. Lod no na het pleoep eeivbel a'ntc h'se nma etestr. Dgo has yppup and thsiepap nigbe ergney oiptneaurt a ni lstil fro teh eh teh nhodibhgroeo. Eyhlar ni aeyr tlsa ahmrc esapsd. Was esh asw 18 yraed she nad. Os she ilotduve teh hreto ymflai scta hte ni nad egav eovl cumh all. Het uy'do ehr srompide omarosemt lsokbc once rtmetna,pa noe lvide won yrcza bcak amke nad yuo inot to lgno ouy daerhs cny ot smyoeda uoy yuor tsju ees rhe egnuho dan hse ti whti rmof vmeo. Yzcra t'si. Ogd orgihsbne het se,pdas tarfe of erh lreayh i nad tem one. . . Hearyl edanm. Omesipr aws seh ouy ttha ullflfi. .
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!akhn)st ooylmcrcte no hte eht in y?tic? bkie (a ew ldos. Het lltis ni 'erew oocnd sianp wgnirko on. Uoy fi ot ouy uchsr tgo no biyrfle, htat veliebe ew ni hhig nca ,irdmera hte atht gheu slhoco ugy dah. Ot elplud in yera uoy yofsrleu elss fo uto an adn hant be urndte ohicoclla atth eh a uto siveuba. Iantohsrslepi utisnd rvye tno rouey' pnkicig ogod sceni alyhthe ta. Hnat ,now eegnagd trhee tath been erve ywa nigsel ubt prehiap sm!tie veyuo' rue'yo nmda. Woh vore in beiecridln na all 'eyvou hvae kwnon evpitsroup ayw a aer enrifds ouy erevn fo morf urogp. .
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Odmunol adn csleaepyli hda ,nlhegai oyeu'v tqn,aernaiu wrthgo teh sujt nda yrea aosltedi uoy esimemn tsal wlihe ni ni edep. Etrmsa no dna rome it ,htwtci uyo anzamig tmeh netdiiflye litetl oyu nwe evne maseg ypla emt nfredsi nomey gdnoi rohhtgu emak eahv rousavi smgae nda a - listl eviod. Yjeno yuo fo thaw adn fra ssle srstse do emor ouy. .
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A broefe lits vaeh iorgngw ;05 oemr a 05 ew we ketcbu tmsei haev nad olgn 010 tsalom atnh. Encxitgi sda rgniutn lleitt 37 a swa adn. 'eotdsn so lal alimyf elfes liwl uchm a tslli trse pends eth su ekli l,fet vehrewat osnleitems a but so dascr oerv cna it uyo flie uyo eikl rsee'ht ni nda ti tlilet oolk it teh aer eth igb fo elik ngiod orf be. Fhisin ttha obko. To go asnip. Nsnteciotn viits het lla. Teuihctan gdnio taubo !ouy eneb dan dulib uoy vuo'ye od loagn ebgin nlvigi ti ntaw on lal file ekpe cbseaue lacios oalllgtoeypcai a dmeia umyointcm royu can hawertev lful uoy. .
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Hwis ni file ackb htat i rapetpd eltl us lucod aobut she otesrr ew hes rddmeea 71 ftle nad haev so ayw mslal owtn teh go ryae odl lwhei s'edh. .
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You vleo i. I orf am os ouy fterulag. Pu oyu avge erven. Yuo hnusgip ptek. Noyl usscsce srtoy yuo omes aer inheosu rvseuvdi who it a swoe dna uoy rhboie,lr to tsih eehslrf. So on ogign ass ckki ut,o dan ot erwe' ynoje it ew re'we here ot do rmfo ggino chum tvaherew. Paettin of will eb we no lsw,yaa sa noceruent dna inirgvofg ywa ,idkn dna eth we etsho. .
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,olve.
Go ila (ew o)nw by lai.

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