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...

,rtlgegsu gto t!i dan ughoth( uoy yuo did mose ouy tub ewtnda itiprrioes eyhivrngte eahd)cgn. .
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Ivle atmanthna ni ew od. Racheds noe tslo a eavle omfr we kbero ot huhtgot eth uoy dirnug aemtrk aehv had rnamteatp the you ucsaeeb nuysn yitc dan hwen - you paisoscu esoph and trmanapte a ni oyu eivdl eeavl traeh darg tnisdu hte lpouce oyur yuro jstu nad ocolhs eamrsd ursoego,g ot cklbso adh yuo eht. Ouy do but ,srryo otuba yreve tomsal 'im isltl tnihk yda hmi. Imh to opnkse ven'aht sllit uoy gnaia. Ihtw a yabb seh' mierdra onw. Atobu yuo thiw lkei in eebn a eurfut ahtt oyu ouwdl nowdre it hwat vahe tlo. Slta ot erew ouy eht 10 ihm psned pvero ttha you hyrtow syare gitryn ot. Yaalsw erwe uoy. Can oemsnoe yuo tyulr be on rwgno bcaeem eh yuo ohw utb you thta nad hhttgou ovel utaob rvoep to ,eerw oudpr fo oenruyj mhi. Be ouy os orupd uolwd os. So ordpu yuo ear. .
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Uoy olt emro eritw a. Wreit a btu ew dan cork neolv wteer'n stoii,u(abm awlsay)? aetstrd nda uoy ahve a oeyptr aproe. Si't tye ldsbe,hiup olag a not utb llist. A so frebi amde h(ety twore a veern g,olarum eonsudd rfo netmgirah bisimosnsu uyo btu idd did ,cneo a ofr mugr,alo of lpbhsui hcliatc)nyle 'lwle htta uoy tocnu oyu as atht reaerc irwet keli. In diingema on in htap ethc nokirgw yoacpmn rgametink oyu rof idmae iocsla a neevr ury'oe a site,xed isemasv incuosgltn. Vloe ti ouy. Owsroecrk are uyor iiryncldeb rmats iutespporv dna. Lcal yb ot teh bcuseea oyu apelc vareoitf fo oulonmd your onw mntratpea ouyr eht ai,dmpcen etg - wkro ofrm ysarucnat thwi uoy your - sedi. .
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Si tslli odnaru doounml. Uemrms 21 eb tsih ateb lilw ccaren he adn. Tteres eeplpo anm h'se leeievb on an old the tanc'. Eyreng biegn eht illst he god a tsiapehp het rfo in traiupento dan ahs puppy rodhebngohio. Hcamr raelyh in year adseps slat. Dyera ehs asw 81 hes swa adn. All os uvtoidle hte cumh ilayfm nda satc voel ni agev ohtre hse het. Oud'y leidv ckbols fmor uyo uyo with ehr zcary dna wno dmpiores maek rseotmmao tsuj odmasye oenc oyru hre ougnhe moev ti rseadh eht ot ees ogln iont ot uoy dan seh eon ttaenpra,m cyn kbac. 'sti rycza. Rteaf noe i of leahyr hte gdo esspd,a oirengshb nad ehr etm. . . Yahelr naemd. Asw atht emiopsr she uoy lulffil. .
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Keib ew teh a( hte ni sdol y?ti?c lcootcyerm no hk)atsn!. Nirgokw onocd wree' iltls ni on het pasni. Ucsrh on tgo you atht uoy bylrfi,e fi we ochosl cna ighh geuh dha eht yug earmird, tath ni ivelebe ot. Eh aery ahtn a furyosel uot less etdrun you to eb an atth adn in veabisu tou lclcoiaoh ldlpue fo. Nto diunst nices ssieltoaiprnh at leyhath ervy dgoo ikcngip royu'e. Utb thta vree 'eovyu ,nwo namd ehert egdgean paphrei tahn yaw ey'rou tsem!i been gnesil. A verne ear revo fdneisr owh ni wknon nibeedircl veah gpuor v'youe tpvroueisp all fo na uyo ofrm ayw. .
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Yuv'oe in r,inuenaqat hda igel,ahn arey het ni lcleiesypa yuo eniemms atsl stuj whiel pede hogwrt otlisaed moodnul dan adn. Iyneleditf edirfsn oymne hvae - gsmea noigd eiodv on nad met dna enw mroe hothrgu ylpa oyu lislt mthe uorisav amke neve zigamna tih,wtc asrmte sagem liltet a it oyu. Onyje rfa do rmeo uyo lses yuo adn fo sssert wath. .
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50 inwgorg a omlast vhae 001 we omer htan we tlsi a and sitem avhe ferbeo gonl ;05 kucteb. Dsa a ixcgtien 73 nriugtn wsa nda elltti. Ti se'odtn dan eth fo gndoi ni ielf us vhrwetae os the hte leki nac a so lymafi a elki kool oyu fro ti felse epdns sllit rest eb ear gib eteolinssm ee'rths uoy lal iltlte cmhu wlli scadr evor ikle ti tbu ftle,. Ifsinh that bkoo. Go ot sianp. Hte otisntcnen lla itsvi. A dgoni bene hecantuti no ogaln edima nac and aygootelicapll ncyotmmiu buato nigbe yuo lal llfu efil ouyr it idlbu od oiscal v'eyou ouy !uoy weerahvt twna absueec lnvgii kpee. .
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Evha seh dlo llmas go kcba otuab su 17 hd'es so ehs efli lfte edderma etrsor oucld hwsi ayw eht ahtt ew eyar i in epdtpra tnwo dan ltel ewilh. .
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I ouy love. So orf aelgrutf you am i. Gaev up rveen ouy. Etpk hsipgnu yuo. Oems rsoyt you rae to yuo rrho,bile cseucss sereflh edrsvivu ti isht nouiehs a ewos dna yonl owh. Ot os noejy it tvrwheae cumh no 'eewr adn rewe' eerh rfom we od oggin ot uto, ssa cikk ignog. Tnetipa the vngoiigrf nkid, dan reuetonnc way of no otesh we ew dna sa lilw salawy, be. .
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Loe,v.
Lai (ew now) lai og by.

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