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...

Got ddi btu eosm wdnaet gentyevhir yuo thguh(o ,utglsgre t!i ac)gnhde uoy etiiorsirp uyo dan. .
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Thnmaanta we live in do. Uryo ni eleva natmatpre oberk hogutth ouy acsbeue yoru teh had dagr yuo nusny we avlee screhda ,oosreggu ckolbs akmert ycit otls idlev neo uoy hpoes hte hvae nweh yuo dan duirgn opeulc rheta nad sjut - a mdsear yuo eth tnratpmae ot teh dan sciuaosp to adh mfro a usindt ohoslc. Ltils do but tmlosa yad yreev uyo r,sory kthni oabut 'im hmi. Yuo hmi niaag istll ot nahtev' snokep. Own byba whit esh' irmread a. In owldu eebn ouy liek yuo with a eahv otl ftueru tabou it wdrone thaw that. Hte weer ysera atht to eporv 10 uoy ot hmi owhyrt ngtyir ouy pesnd stal. Wslaay ouy ewre. Rytul he rodup be oeynrju rgown ot nca uoy hwo noeemos fo opvre adn w,eer yuo no taht gtuthoh him aobtu uyo but vleo mbaece. So duopr yuo so ldwuo be. Oyu ear so prudo. .
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Moer tol a oyu wreit. Aoper vnloe (tbmsii,uoa a dsretta ew w)?aslay and ewe'rtn evha a wiert uoy oyrtep adn cokr tub. Elubsh,dpi ubt a aglo tey ont lslit sti'. Adme etrngmaih uoy did ikel ,ncoe reitw os lw'el ,omlagur a for fo c)hnecylliat sa weotr did ofr tath veern m,raougl uyo aeercr ibosmnsuis a btu yth(e uctno yuo birfe eondusd hpisblu a thta. Erven oiwrngk ni ,teiesxd a sciola dmiae mycoapn reo'yu on isasvme igeanmdi chte meagtnkir apht a rof oyu in uslnonictg. It ouy oelv. Nad rocewkosr rea oruy nrclyeibid uovtpispre atrsm. Fomr aclpe eth alcl yutcsarna voairtef mloondu uoy eht uory - sied uyro apmternat ot wtih ma,ncepdi - royu rkwo gte of you seabeuc yb nwo. .
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Olmudon istll is dnuroa. He 21 sthi acrnec srumme wlil and abet eb. Se'h oeelpp ctn'a hte on man belveie dlo na trseet. Benhogroodih in het geeyrn sltli god enbgi a pneiuottar he dan rof eth ash phsetipa ppyup. In rahley asdsep ayre mrhac alst. And rdyea hes she asw aws 18. Adn hte so ouitveld hmcu elov esh ni all fiamyl hte scat agev rthoe. Rofm uoy hes her hunoge cobkls you oen uyo esradh to ta,nampert oitn eymoasd idsmerop moev dna sutj to ese wno ruoy dna czrya akem erh od'uy oenc mmoreosta ncy itwh akcb ti long deliv teh. Acrzy i'ts. Reh earylh dna eth fo dog i ferat noe sbnerigho ,sadsep etm. . . Meadn yrleah. Lulilff wsa ahtt ehs opermsi ouy. .
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The ibek we eht osdl no lrtmecyooc a( t?icy? ni ak)n!hts. Hte eewr' iapns no in litls noodc rgniwok. Got uoy adh crshu eht on beleiev uyo yug ni lohcos anc fi atht to y,blefri dr,armie ttha ghih ew euhg. In ccoilhalo ldlpeu eh lsse uoy to a out an eb rleyosuf aery tou eabusiv dan taht atnh fo netrud. Revy tno ta ogdo eoaspitlrhnsi ntsdiu heahtly esnic uo'rey ignpick. Herte ahtt btu reve w,on eben anht etis!m vey'uo yaw dmna yo'reu sinlge aherpip aegdegn. Rvnee aevh a vore idieblrcne urgpo an fo 'uvoey rfmo ohw rea rvpspieuto wnnok in yaw indsfre yuo all. .
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Just aihne,gl eeylalipsc omulnod you iqnanerta,u ni hte and voey'u stla ni nmsemei yrae lhiew depe oadtiels ghrotw hda dan. A yieiltdenf ersndfi enw viedo ttwc,hi eenv semga ogind suoriav uoy - etillt dna itsll meth adn aaigmnz mkae mserta oemny maegs orme ti no uoy etm ypal htrhogu ahev. Jnoey srstes od oyu afr omre fo slse dna ahwt ouy. .
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Ew ahev 010 we grnogiw a imste hvae a nad 50; nhat eomr mtsloa eeorfb lngo ltsi ubketc 05. Ttelli ruigtnn itgneixc 73 a nda sad aws. A it fo the oyu big gindo eovr olok us t,efl 'onestd os but a it tser eawrevht dna het the e'rtehs pedsn lilw cuhm elefs orf elki teillt be os ifel oyu osnislteme tlils lal ti ielk are nca fyilam elki sacrd ni. Okbo nifhsi tath. Ot nsiap go. Sotnencnti the lla vstii. Kpee geibn bldui teawervh ogndi eabcseu it aglon ifel no oaltaloigclyep tnwa cna lluf oryu cyunmomit a od dmaie obaut clsioa uy'evo livgni ouy tunaihtec lal you y!uo eben dna. .
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Rtrose nda teh us oculd emredad wshi in aehv raye pratped hse os etll i we batou atht allms seh awy odl eflt hwiel kbac go elif dhse' 17 otnw. .
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I uoy lvoe. Am os i raeugltf fro uoy. You evren eavg pu. Gpusnih ptke ouy. Ohseuni isth oeilbrh,r seom sfehelr to aer lnoy cecusss udrvsvie a you tsroy ohw ti you nda weos. Ewre' w'ere ut,o no cmhu eehr jyeon ass cikk gigon we and od rfom ot it to so aerthvew gngio. Ornnetecu adn attenip fo we eht awy sa ,ikdn be wlil vrngiogfi nda otehs we awslya, on. .
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Love,.
Og )own ali ali by (ew.

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