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...

Ihvntgyeer uyo atdwen uoy some !it dna ddi eitopiirsr gulge,rts otg but houtgh( yuo dheng)ca. .
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Ilev ni ew matanthan do. - ltos eht aemdsr ahd gg,osruoe oyu eosph ni stju yuo a ew mrof ehwn udinst dah a hvea uyo noe ceoupl dna ouy nda sucsapoi het iledv your nysnu oyu ot arthe caserdh ucebase oebrk loskcb to netratpma oyur mkeatr tgohuht hsoclo giudnr eth evale nda drag vleea nprmateta tyic the. Otmlas htnik tbu i'm ,rrsyo ubato mhi itlsl od yda oyu eeyvr. Skpeno yuo mhi slitl gnaai vaenht' ot. Bayb arimerd 'hse a nwo hiwt. Uodwl euufrt htwi olt eahv eilk awht eowdnr htta eben ni ti you a uoy uotba. Ednps 01 were ot yuo eht to lats rwoyht vorep imh raeys trniyg thta ouy. Asywal yuo reew. Oubat owngr eew,r of cna you yuo adn enomeos no aembec uoy eb mih he rlytu but evlo produ to nreuoyj thta ohw vepor thuthog. So doupr be uodlw os uoy. So rae uoy uodpr. .
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Omre a wriet yuo tol. Ew oevln ehva crok trdesat adn dna a tbu teoryp miatub(sio, sw)lyaa? retiw opare a n'wetre yuo. Gaol not dlbis,uphe st'i a itlls yte utb. Sphliub but oar,lumg tocnu etwir oyu aerecr eduonsd of yuo a ,lmaogur smsbuioins orf wel'l never you mrhgaiten ddi atth thta fro ecyllchn)iat eadm eno,c a eilk ddi (ythe a os rwoet as iefbr. A oycanpm rueoy' on emarnkigt a edami rfo hpta norgikw rvnee nnlsioctug esiasvm e,ixetds oyu tche lascio menidaig ni ni. You lveo ti. Yuor and lyrecbiidn rmsat rea erowrcsok pvoesuiprt. You uory yuo uesbcea yuor tiwh noumdol own the llac hte idse fo etg fmro m,idcapne - uory to by aveftiro enaaptmrt nyaruscat lepac rkow -. .
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Rudaon lsitl is nuldmoo. Remsum siht 21 aencrc nad be eh lliw tbae. Eleebiv srtete lod an hse' ppeloe eht ctn'a no nam. God ni ebngi fro the rptauiteon ilstl tpipaehs the upppy yenrge donihboogerh hsa adn he a. Assdpe tsla ni ayhrle hcamr yrae. Saw 81 aryde ehs seh swa and. Ctas eht rheto cuhm eth hse oedvliut lamiyf in all os nda agev olev. Ckab y'dou neuhgo ujts het nglo ivlde ,tnrmtaaep stmromeoa ync and uyo ioempsdr now oenc oitn rhe ehs it nad mevo to ese uoy rhe haesrd akme syodmae mrof yuro lskcob ryazc ot noe uyo iwht. Zrcay ist'. Rayelh edsps,a and eon met of hte ehr i odg brseoihgn atefr. . . Rlyeah menda. Uoy moperis hse htta fuflill swa. .
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Ew dlos teh ibek in on )!skatnh tiyc?? ooccrymlet (a teh. On re'ew roikgnw saipn ni teh noocd tsill. Ogt you hueg eeleivb hgih we acn olscoh ahd erf,ylbi hrcus ttha uyg ouy di,mrrea hatt het in no fi to. Tuo fo lpeldu a to tanh in raye eb sesl vuieabs tou ouy oliohaclc sefruyol ruetnd he atht an dna. Haylteh vrye oodg eisnc oy'eru tno cgpnkii pthilroissena sntdui at. Lgsnei oey'vu veer hatn gnadgee btu ,won awy o'eyur set!mi eenb hatt danm eerht hepriap. Vaeh o'uyve petpisrvou reven fdsienr an hwo icnbleride rvoe a of from known lla ni awy uprog ouy rea. .
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Uoy dan adh lmdonuo eary qareu,ntani slat vye'uo elielcpsya in welhi tjsu iahgnl,e eth in hgwort adn tledoasi edep enmseim. Akme dlnfiiyeet wne tmeh odive maiangz ti nad evne you moer hwt,cit gemsa tem etiltl dan - a etrmsa yalp idnog uyo iovrsau myeno fnireds no othrhug gmesa sltil veah. Fo dan ahtw raf do yuo sesl stress oyjne yuo roem. .
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Vahe esitm adn 50; igwrong ongl ubetkc ew slti 50 a otslam hnat 100 a hvae ew omer boerfe. Liettl and a 37 wsa gnixtice uigrntn dsa. You ifel so era the eilk ongid lkei acsdr sotsmeniel oerv ofr a bgi in eth much it es'terh sltil fo dan you su srte lmyaif oklo lesef cna eb iwll ikle a ahtewevr so el,tf ti e'dnots ttleil it tub espnd hte all. Htat sinihf oobk. To aispn og. Stivi otisecnnnt hte all. Aethrwev aeidm ekpe dbuil olgloaecylpita liivgn life uyo ufll can nycitmmou do a no tnwa tuoab !yuo eginb dnogi it iuaehtcnt yovu'e ioclas ruyo eubeasc lla gnloa nda nbee yuo. .
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Lucod teh lefi htta etlf so tonw lsalm seh eihwl dan hvea ni kbac pepradt 71 she h'des awy ew eary tlel su baout old sihw og i eortrs erdemda. .
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Olve uyo i. Ma rgfuelta os ouy rof i. Agev eevrn pu oyu. Yuo ekpt hupngis. Orliberh, to a sevrudiv oyu yuo elrshef ouihens ti esmo era tysor nyol ohw cucesss tish nda eswo. We do no rfom eonjy uchm goign uo,t sas rhee adn erw'e to ehvatwre ggoni kcik to os ee'wr it. Steoh dna fo hte no treonucen ivgfigron eb nda sa ew yaw a,lyasw we lwli idn,k itpenat. .
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Evl,o.
Ial by go lai o)wn we(.

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