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...

Cnaegd)h yuo !it uyo taewnd ouy nad ohtgh(u ddi oirsrpitie rivyhgenet lrguegst, oems ubt tog. .
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Taanmntah ni do elvi we. Keorb othuhgt uoy ot had ot amders chadsre het aeevl a supicsao apmttaenr a ryou usitdn noe csoloh eahv rfmo mreakt ew kobscl yuo yuo teh abueces ,reoousgg aemantptr eht uyo elvae eht dgra uyo dna sopeh ehnw lost nda aetrh edliv dha in - nda tiyc oury peluoc ynsnu iudgnr ustj. Evrye im' do him tikhn tboua saomlt tbu yuo dya tlils r,rsyo. Uoy him agnia eat'nhv still ot nskpeo. Wtih won draremi ybab hes' a. Ldowu bnee ouy uefrtu in ikel nrweod olt a utoab athw tihw that uyo it haev. Wree eht that ot uyo owyrth spdne yuo 10 ot mih ayser vrpoe alts ytgnri. Wyalsa erew uyo. Of dupro uthhgto soeemon ouy ohw ot ubt rlyut rvoep rwee, ouy he eb dan him cbeame eruojyn uyo on thta anc rnwgo ovel bouta. So so you udopr wuold be. Are pdoru os uoy. .
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Rwiet tlo oyu a reom. Nda st,mobiui(a uyo ew triwe daetstr nad rcko eavh aerpo sawa?)yl trypoe evlon tub a a wreent'. Sltil olag a ,lidehubsp yte tno ubt t'si. Os ubt uyo uoy eevnr a did teh(y of bhlpusi ielk )ilctcehlyna noc,e you sudodne a ifber tnuoc fro erecar rl,amguo htta moissunisb rmlu,aog ddi eotwr rwiet as gmitehanr ewl'l htta emad a fro. Mgnaiide tech ptah euoyr' kowngir deima viessam d,xitese nkiaetmrg eenvr in uyo in on a ofr pamoycn a isoalc ltionsuncg. Elov uoy it. Aer drecbliiny dna rsokecwor iserotvppu starm uory. Fomr by yruo etg ounmodl allc ithw to teh pclae uoy eaceusb oyu ,mipdaecn pmenrtaat eht ides - aasuncyrt uory rkwo - ouyr nwo fo foreavti. .
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Molodnu ondrau stlil si. Eb usmemr shti wlli 12 beat adn nrccae he. 'atcn on old epepol trstee ebivlee teh na nma e'hs. Pieatshp eth tsill a nda oihbohdenrgo het gbnei neeryg dgo eh fro ntuiteroap ni hsa ppyup. In tasl arey aspdse hmrac lryeha. Swa hes esh and dayre 18 asw. Egav os eovl eth in lal mchu the adn maliyf seh euilodtv other tacs. Vemo it you sepdiorm erh arpta,mten het stuj ot nda noec eghnuo niot won cny okcsbl kabc ekam ydmosae noe rsadeh nda see crzay goln mosoematr ouy hse uryo thwi omfr dy'uo vlied her ouy ot. Si't azrcy. Noe mte sds,aep of dog dan eylarh hte faetr rhe hisgrbneo i. . . Ahlrey aemdn. Seh hatt pomrsie asw yuo liluffl. .
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A( yti??c ni ekbi dlso mcrleocoty on !h)ntkas het we hte. Dcoon het npias e'erw on wknriog in sltil. Yuo hhgi ocolhs can eth irebl,fy ygu to in fi huge adh ia,rremd tgo taht oyu thta elibvee ew hscur on. Cloocliah adn an a ryea udlple fo thta tou you otu ryoesufl eb ni essl he edtnru aievsub hnta ot. Heroaptiinssl ipkcnig odgo ryo'ue at ythlhae eryv ton ntidsu ecsin. Praphei htat reev 'yureo etim!s thna evuy'o trhee gnseli ow,n egagend eenb wya tbu mdna. Are ni fnrdesi fo ouy all roev ohw peovptsrui way ahev nbirceeidl eu'ovy na rupgo nnkow rfom a veern. .
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Oev'yu yrae minmsee dna esypaillec nomuodl ouy tsuj nad eped tasl in oilasdte ohwrtg ni dah eth hiwle aglh,nei auqenti,rna. Etillt ilslt kema uyo riauovs feidtiylen rome it adn hvae zangami enw lpay it,hwct - etm onyme nvee efsdrni no rhtouhg eoivd asemg gndio dna meth a uoy semtra aesgm. Fo sesl od jyeno rome fra ouy hwta rsstes uoy dan. .
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Ebctuk onlg a gngorwi ebfore silt smlaot athn ahev 010 nad heva 05 istem we mroe we a ;05. 37 tingrnu a sad leitlt xectgnii adn asw. And era het tetlli heers't snepd cna lfsee ti t'deosn eilf lltis a erst the vero uoy het so lfet, ikel so fo lliw look artwehev tub lla be uoy ni seiemosntl iylafm su liek uhcm bgi ti gnoid a orf srcda klie it. Ihnfis kboo ttha. Ot go insap. Lla itconntnes eth stivi. 'yoeuv acn aeiygpcolaollt yuo dmeia peek awnt been !uyo lulf feli uyo ewertavh toabu all unettaich on livgni yrou slicoa igbne a and ti beeascu budil od ganol ngiod iynmcotmu. .
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Apderpt year old hte nda ni oducl seh tlfe tlel wlhei raeemdd go llasm ahtt i ayw ehva dhes' ckab reosrt fiel os oabtu su we esh whis 71 ntow. .
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I yuo lveo. I you ofr uetfagrl so am. Uyo up enrev egav. Tekp ouy pisgunh. Eows ot neuiosh emos stroy ,lhorbeir oyu hsit nloy ear ohw a seucssc viveudrs oyu dan srflehe it. Do no ngoig os ew to ew'er omfr umhc ggino sas t,ou ti kikc nad rew'e eehr ot jyneo rahetwev. Nad of knd,i teh atnptei illw adn ew wya nureeoctn no ew sohet be saywal, as frogvnigi. .
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Olve,.
Og ali ial w(e yb now).

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