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...

But t!i you hanec)dg thg(huo omse tgo you and idd riorspieti sgtrg,lue awdnet oyu vghtineeyr. .
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Lvei ew od amntathan ni. Leeva ecaesub eeval unnsy had dremsa adn uyo tjsu lhocso ni a ot htouhgt neo enhw erhsdca teh oyu the to ew krboe gadr a yuo ryuo arteh epluco ahve form namttapre taatmnpre rouy usidnt pscisauo nda ogeogs,ru dna lots eidlv uyo - ouy the klcsob ytic the gduinr hepso had eatrkm. Dya mi' matlso ubt srr,oy ouy hntki eyrev do hmi iltls atubo. Yuo at'nvhe mhi ianga listl eospnk ot. Now amdreir a abby hwti es'h. Dnrowe tlo tath turfeu abtou ielk udlow it a ahwt ihwt oyu eebn ouy in hvae. Irngty ot edpsn teh 10 to eaysr hmi yuo htta ltsa ywotrh uoy pvore rwee. Aaywls were oyu. Uoy oyu eb uoy tabuo uodpr ihm emsnoeo ohgtuht fo nwgro ohw love but yojeunr on vrepo cbaeem nda eh ot ltyru htta wee,r cna. Os odrup so oudlw be ouy. Yuo dupor are so. .
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Teirw reom ouy lto a. And and a lw?)asya ew apoer w'rtnee a tsreadt tbu etiwr korc msabu(,itoi uoy enovl oyretp heva. Yet ton ,ihdbspuel ist' tbu isllt a aolg. Outnc htta a fbrei fo the(y ddi a aomurl,g e'lwl a ouy rweot ntahe)ylclic ofr aecrre trmengiah yuo osunedd sluihpb btu lkie orf oc,ne ubsossiimn dmae idd neevr as ietrw yuo mgor,ula so hatt. Nmaiegid vrene hatp eaidm igknrow tceh in emsaivs ni st,idexe ympcaon orf entirkmga you a a no uoyer' nultsginco laoisc. Vole oyu it. Iiybndlerc roeksworc tsiruvpepo ryou rea dan smrat. Rfmo sdei het umooldn htwi rycasatnu by vfeoiatr teg llca ryuo - oyu ausebec uyor the ntetapamr - own yrou eplca of eapi,dmcn ot uoy rwko. .
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Odlmonu si dauorn illst. 21 lliw muesrm be arcnce isht he adn tbae. 'hes tan'c peolpe eleibve no dlo teestr man na the. Oooierdbghhn paphesit hte sah gdo a atneipruto lsitl ni ibgne eht eengry dan rof ppuyp he. Hraely alts hmrac in eapsds yrea. Hse aws wsa dna seh 81 erady. Eht lla ayfiml ohret eth hse oelv so chum ni nad sact vuideotl vage. Ti oen omve yuo logn ync pemtraan,t oyu see mrof dehrsa erh ceon uoy idelv yodu' ot wno nad guheon dmorspei oury dsyeoma sckbol nda maek seh hte ot jtus ihtw rzyac oitn hre cakb tsaomrmoe. Zayrc i'ts. Dna eahryl ehr efatr i dog bornighes ,sapdes eno fo the tem. . . Nmade alhrey. Asw smoiper liluffl htat ehs ouy. .
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Hte ew ??iytc het a( no odsl beki ni aktn!s)h mecrycotlo. Wnoikrg eht on sianp ni tlils noodc e'erw. If ugy olochs hgeu we ighh ni ot tog bleivee csuhr ttah ahd oyu no anc feybr,il uyo ttha hte rreda,im. Ot bvuiaes less out yaer out allcchoio yrfesuol of tath ni yuo an eb dna hatn uetrdn a eldlpu he. Yhalhet suitnd sioaipsntrhel cigpnki gdoo very uyroe' nisec ta ton. Ubt ethre geednag ttah lnesig awy 'oryeu eyovu' neeb nath hppreia wn,o tmi!es eevr amnd. Irdesnf ouy way uvy'oe rugpo a rnvee woh eeirdlibnc rvoe all rea in an heav of uoirveppts nonwk romf. .
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Otghwr muldnoo adn yuo uevy'o the aaenquntr,i jsut adn ietdsola esenimm eped dah erya lsta gae,ihln in aelyslpiec lewhi ni. Teitll - new ughrhot uyo omre no wcit,th a meth amke haev gidno nagaimz enev easmg odeiv urvoais dna tme uoy nad lapy etamrs ifdsnre emsga llits ti ieneyitfdl noyme. Ouy oynje od ouy dna rmoe hwat fo raf sesstr esls. .
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;50 giwgnro alsotm a and ilst ukcebt erom a 010 imest 05 erobfe tnha goln vaeh we ehva we. 73 ntnurgi ltleit and wsa tigexnic a sda. Muhc asrdc tub so het you us ti for rae het llist of so e'sthre a moeeltsnsi lal ti nedps awrvethe eth eilk kile roev it acn e,tfl teso'dn a ni uyo and be goind gbi fmiyal kiel sert lwli look slefe iefl elttil. Sfihni hatt okob. Og ot aispn. Enttnscino ivtsi lal teh. Nyumotimc eadmi yo!u ouy aoiscl awtn adn ebgin lal life nebe dniog do it ptlcoilgalayeo yuo evo'uy ntcatehui no ecbesua a boaut ullf anc oryu ngola eewhtarv ivilng bldui ekep. .
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Iefl old almls atht i lduco hes us dermeda in elwhi atobu ftle os pdaetrp 17 og eayr nda the letl srroet swhi cakb hsde' ew hes vhea wya twno. .
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Elvo i ouy. So rof am i lrufetag ouy. Up enrev aegv yuo. Piushgn ektp yuo. Rob,liher oesw a scseucs oyu it yuo reflhes era lnyo nda vruedivs ot ihts ohw eoms iehnsou toysr. Gigno ew so to ree'w cikk 'weer ot,u ogign rmof hwtaveer ot heer ti nda jyone ssa hmcu od no. Dan ew hetso ywa oetcrnneu ikn,d ilwl ylaaw,s fo teh we dan on pttiena iornifgvg as eb. .
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El,vo.
Ew( og won) lai ali by.

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