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...

Ntveyirghe uyo oyu idd eiipriosrt hho(tug ti! tub got nad you msoe detawn h)gaednc gsglt,uer. .
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We nahmttnaa ilev ni od. Dlive oegous,rg eth uysnn hte you rgda ahd ckosbl lost peaarmntt - eaevl a usitdn rateh the and uoy yuro when dungri ahev ew ot had rkemta bcuasee yuo hte mofr ttguohh acsisuop dna ni eon adesrm tiyc uyo a oyru dan cpuole sujt oshpe rcshead rbeok olscoh you aaemrttnp evael to. Mhi do tbu asmtol m'i dya ors,ry rveey khtin tuoab you ltsli. Anagi htna've lstil ot uyo mih sekpon. A 'hes own hwit eriradm abyb. Oyu keli atwh a ti uboat htwi eturfu dlouw vahe enbe uyo lot htat ordwne in. 10 to eerw revpo inygrt to nespd aeysr ttha you oyu yhwrot ltas eth mih. Weer yaswla uyo. Toabu tub uoy ebcame uoy who fo uodrp dan mosnoee evol be ot hatt eer,w ornwg no renuyoj yuo yutrl ogtthuh oeprv mih eh nca. Os be lwoud pduro yuo os. Era you oprud os. .
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Wrtei omer you a otl. Repoa tewir ubt olnev a nda siomui,a(bt we asettrd uyo krco dan rewne't a ahev preyot )?lawasy. Oagl lslti eyt utb a ton 'ist h,ileupbsd. Eaigrtnhm el'lw a hipulsb fro mro,glau ouisnsimsb adem bfrei you atth terwo uyo idd tbu htat lkie o,nec as ddi a tocnu a ernve fo os yhet( ofr wtrei yuo rceear altnlecic)hy ourgalm, odnsdue. Xiseed,t hatp in poncyma veern iaoscl nkogirw ni you no oigltscunn htce a for mieda e'uory a seasvmi nkgrtmaei edgnaiim. Uyo evol ti. Lcindreiyb adn rwskrceoo rmsta uyor aer tsrpupeoiv. Pceal rwko get to teh odonuml - sied fo - ihwt ecubase eth fivroeta uyor onw yruo mtpeanart arutacyns call aiecdmpn, orfm oyur oyu uoy by. .
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Dnuaro dnouoml tilsl si. Naercc eh taeb will sthi nad eb 12 mrseum. Eoppel teetrs hse' na odl no bveleie 'anct nma eht. Ahs ogd eh ygeren teh ni dna sphtpiae hoineogrbhod puypp eth a ofr nebgi titranupoe ltlis. Eary achrm ni ryealh atsl asespd. Wsa 18 wsa ehs eyrda dan ehs. Dan vloe eagv scat os eth yilafm other ni etduvoli lla chmu eth hes. Ouy yuo rofm oen teh vldei ckba rntamap,te twhi you doymase evom rhe adn emoatrosm ot it ersdha to ync hse hre ncoe ese olgn emka nda own cyrza sjut inot ud'oy nohegu orisdpme oyru bklosc. Azcyr 'sit. Oen of obgerihsn treaf yrlaeh psa,eds teh ehr god emt i adn. . . Dnmea yhlear. Ttah saw esh lluflfi ispmroe uoy. .
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Ew ni nkhat)s! osdl no c?i?yt (a kieb crocoemlyt eth eth. The ew're ni lslti nwgorik odnoc pisna no. You atth rrmad,ei lshcoo if fbl,irye huge ot acn in uoy uyg rhsuc iveleeb on thta otg ew high het dah. Fo fyeourls an oyu icoocahll a out ssle edpull ni be endrut nda taht usbiaev otu year eh ot hnat. 'oyeru senci ta doog yrve yhalthe nstudi pignick anislpohtires not. Oyvu'e thta n,ow tbu bene erev ywa ndam gdgneae trhee roeyu' tahn gilesn eimts! aeriphp. Opurg a an nreve libeciedrn ni redsinf puvpseitro yuo wya era owh morf lla eov'uy vero vahe nnowk fo. .
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Slta eyra lunmood wehil the sneimme and oyu pede ihaln,eg adn earqa,itnnu uvoe'y sujt hogwrt in oetialsd had ni yilspceale. Adn uyo ewn litetl ,wttchi eakm namaizg astemr siurvoa ilslt iersfnd it no aemgs nymeo - uyo ehmt etm dogin ivdeo and ylpa even a hrohgtu tenedlfyii aevh esgam eomr. Od hatw ouy uoy adn arf yjneo ermo of slse ssestr. .
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A nda nlog 001 reom 05 evah we rwonggi meits tanh we heva 0;5 ofbeer a ebtukc tlis tsmlao. Little dsa 37 rgunint a gixetcin nad aws. Liek os vrawheet faimly rfo hsee'tr uyo su darcs ielf a ters fl,te tellti oyu fesel ingdo klie eitleosmsn os lliw and fo ti lislt in eht o'dsetn ervo nespd ubt big the anc be ear ikle cmhu all lkoo eth it ti a. Tath okbo isinfh. Apnis og to. Eht lla visit nnitctnsoe. Inbge esaubec ouy uryo ehvtwaer it iginvl aiedm uyo! uoy awnt all nca a yve'ou ubild aobtu eekp mconiymtu leaicoalpylgto lflu dna od lgnoa cuaehttni no gdoin nebe lscoia efli. .
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Ni lewih we ehs reedamd letl eth mlsal ehs akbc ayre 71 srerot nad ttah awy ltfe us cuold s'edh i ppaedtr os ielf go whis utoba have ldo notw. .
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Leov i yuo. I ltegfrau ma rof oyu os. Erenv oyu vgea up. Gpnushi uyo etpk. Cesucss sowe a eusoihn lfeersh sthi mseo stryo woh it nad vrduvies uoy uoy ot are noyl rbreo,hli. To uto, ofmr to joyne oiggn dna gongi w'ere sas weer' ickk ti do eehr on erhatewv uhmc ew so. Ehots tenpiat ew be cneoruten ,kidn ayw llwi on as the wlsa,ya igfngrovi dna of adn we. .
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Voe,l.
Yb e(w go ila )onw ial.

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