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...

Ueg,rltgs gto h)ndgaec vegyterinh rsioeptiri and uoy t!i uyo btu dawetn emos did uyo (hutgho. .
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We tatnhmaan od ivle ni. Nehw darg ynsnu and to nda edamsr omfr aehv adh seoph ahd tpmnatare oulpec adn gidrun oyu hte ranmtpeat ni uyor - u,sgrooge eelva teh eleva oyu stju slkocb sochlo het orebk carehds ouy ipusacos a ouy ot a aetmrk stlo ieldv etrha tghuoth one aebuces hte tciy you ew snutdi your. Ntkih abuot 'im yuo itsll dya mhi mtaosl but soyrr, od every. Ot aagni uoy ihm slitl hvea'tn koespn. Own a she' ybab whti mdrriae. A eebn atbou ndorwe vahe tlo wdoul tath yuo urteuf twhi you in like it awth. To imh teh oyu atsl ygtnri ysera uoy ytowrh 10 sdenp to thta prevo wree. Aalsyw rewe yuo. To eovpr eh mhi hwo and utb of leov ouy bauot tyulr be otuhgth you no r,ewe oyu dpuor mneseoo wngor eaecbm anc that rojunye. So be oduwl yuo rduop so. Os era droup you. .
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A ewitr uoy otl omre. (uibmsio,at a olven btu detstar veah ?sa)alwy teiwr ew ckro n'erewt adn a repoa nda uyo repoyt. Ubt yte s'ti a ton tills bueds,phil aolg. Dame uyo cerare hley)alncict reenv ubt desuond frieb ctonu as hatt nrahtigem t(yeh liek so trwie uoy el'lw uyo ahtt plhsbiu ,rgumalo ddi orf ne,oc idd rewto orf glu,mora a snibmusosi a fo a. Ignidmae in in ievassm ilsaoc mdeai a ruo'ye lconginuts athp on myoapcn echt uyo erven fro nmgkrtiae a te,desxi krnogiw. Uoy ti oelv. Dna csrkoewor rsatm ycblidreni uryo teiuvpspro rea. Esaecbu lnomuod - yuo ot yb oruy epalc seid het the clal ryuo of ofmr mpc,aiend now rfvietao uory krow uoy ctsaaruyn - hiwt get ateanrtmp. .
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Rodanu tlisl omonlud si. Dna isht he beta muesrm will 12 craecn eb. Amn dlo lppeoe no seh' restet eievbel an hte can't. Dog titoenparu tisll yngeer he eth ash asetihpp ni pppyu nbige dna the a ofr oirgdnohoebh. Ylehar archm yrea lsta in pedssa. Aws 18 she swa redya adn seh. Ymfial seh het teroh so viouldte hucm vleo csat ni the and lal geva. And to doeyams mrtmaoeos wthi won elvdi ouy ehr koblsc ogln see uyor mfor idpmorse one you nad hgneuo ntio emak the uyo czary kbac ot ti vmoe ea,mptnart hasder rhe esh ocen ync uyd'o stju. I'ts azryc. Ogd eno elayrh fo i adssp,e nad rafte ohsibgenr hre hte mte. . . Admne eryhla. Uoy hes moisrpe ufillfl ahtt asw. .
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Het we in kibe y??itc k)tns!ah a( eth dols mcrtoeyolc on. Nrkgowi eht ni no isnap rwee' tllsi dnooc. Hcrsu the oyu ew ttha uehg acn dah ogt you ahtt ni fi dearr,im on ot veileeb byeil,fr ghih olsoch ugy. An chcallioo nda uretnd in tanh sles fo suoefylr a yaer uyo leudpl otu out aisevbu eb to atht he. Htylahe doog icnes oiplisenrthsa at roey'u nduist npgicki tno yevr. Uyo've airpphe btu nebe vree wya 'eyour herte hant ndam it!ems gleisn taht ggaened ,own. Lal ilcndrebie rnfdsie gurop voer na rvene ywa rae uyo oeuyv' fmro hwo fo in estpovpuri nnkow a aehv. .
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Ni adn ohtwrg peycsaleil eth naihg,el onmudlo pede astl hda wileh yera ujst adn nemimse detaisol oyu t,aunrniaeq oeyvu' ni. Eahv nda vdieo noemy met mrtsea esagm mhte ltetli gidno rmoe tslil ,ttchiw uoy easmg vnee paly oyu inmazag - it enifdrs suariov nda telnediyfi hhotrgu make no new a. Jynoe do meor you waht dna tesssr you fo essl far. .
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010 eefbro adn ahve orem tsomal ew heav lsti ;05 imest ggiworn 50 a nogl tanh ukbetc we a. Nda aws etltli a 73 ntixiceg turinng asd. A fro adn aylfmi lwli liek cmuh of ti leki gib os slefe ni cna lla lslit tlielt te,fl ouy a lief eht tbu su it ear liek veearwht ondgi misstneoel es'ndto scard het look so be hte revo it erst dneps oyu et'rshe. Snihif okob thta. Spnai go ot. Lla het vsiti inntecnots. Do anc lla ti eebn yovue' iginvl uoy evwaehtr uatob dmaei cnmutomyi aonlg a asceueb ehtactiun ekpe bgnie no you bduli llfu ouyr oindg lfei wnat siclao adn laeyiogltaoplc y!uo. .
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Yera ckab wsih aehv we tlel ldcuo i ertsro iehwl ttha go odl ptardpe su almsl aemerdd os ilfe bouat teh 71 hes esh'd in dna hes ywa onwt tlef. .
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Elvo yuo i. I orf afgturle ma so you. Gvae ouy reevn up. Isphngu yuo ktep. Omes a ihst it yoln rusvediv ot soew hesfler trsoy holirrbe, seucssc owh rea uyo uyo uishnoe nda. Were' vehewart ckki gigon nigog ejyno o,ut we do sas dan it erew' chmu to so to omfr rehe no. Het eosth eattnip of sa tnuenrceo ,asywla ew nda idkn, gongvfrii no eb wlli wya we dna. .
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E,vlo.
On)w (ew og lia lia by.

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