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...

Anedchg) rpsoiiiret ddi iereygnvth ouy ndteaw gto tub ouy !it uoy uh(gtho nad gge,ltsru smeo. .
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Eivl ni tnmhatnaa we od. Rfom eno when eht rgidun - ,oegrosug eolcup ynusn adn eusebca a measdr eht ciyt uoy hte rkmeta hscool tmearnapt darg sopeh dah ryou nda yuo ruyo evlae yuo elivd tsidun oclkbs eth uyo traeh natrtempa csaopuis nad ew ot ot uohhgtt a ni laeev edrchsa hda ujts eavh borek uoy lsot. Lmsato eevry o,rysr oyu utb mi' ltlis mhi yda do bouat nthki. Agani ot a'tnveh mhi ouy sltli knesop. A e'hs rridema yabb now hiwt. A tol abtou enbe tath oudwl eowdnr uoy ihtw aevh in ti klie trufeu you thaw. Oyu weer taht pvoer uoy ot 01 tsal to mhi asrye sndpe rnitgy wyrhot the. Ouy weer ysaalw. Utb imh woh to rngow nac tuabo oyu of urtyl htta loev ghhoutt you ,erew he rjyoneu oomeesn vrope ecebma uoy rdupo dan on be. You os be so upodr uwodl. Orudp uoy so era. .
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Emor uyo a lot ietrw. Bua(tism,oi ouy venlo ?ylw)saa dna steartd but yropte we a rock eritw a adn erwe'nt vahe rpoae. Ltlsi yte olag t'si ubt not p,deuhilbs a. A ertow ,ocen uoy uontc yuo gl,rauom never hbsiplu brefi of ddi tay)ccenllhi llew' gmetanrih rof isnobsuism taht a a heyt( made nudosde reearc htta did lkei algru,mo so sa tbu ouy for rteiw. Enver rfo acmynpo saoilc eury'o in a diniemag athp tgosucnlin ni a hcte uoy tiesx,ed eadmi kginowr asisvme on tniegmakr. Uoy it lvoe. Mtsar orerowcsk eirpouvstp your ibycilredn dan aer. Uryo teg teh you rouy ,enpamdci styaunrca uyo to teaparmtn frmo acusbee wno - lacl alepc ithw hte of yb moulond rietfvoa yoru ised - okrw. .
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Is itsll lonuodm rdanuo. Ccaern eb iwll muserm btea he hsti 21 nad. Dlo ncat' an nam oelepp 'ehs no het vielbee etesrt. God ash he a fro puypp het dan tllsi ni eoribnoodhgh tspaieph eegyrn nigeb teh tutaoepnri. Atsl hamcr ni yare lyaehr esapsd. Dan hse was 81 dryae hes was. Het het myialf os humc eagv teohr oevl seh tvuedoli in all scat dna. Ruoy erh seh neo nglo it dsreah ovem see guonhe fomr kaem uo'yd cryza raatp,etnm ot ot enoc slokcb taosmorme het cyn oyu bcka ihwt nwo uyo noit ideomrsp sutj dilve saeodmy dan erh ouy dna. I'ts cryaz. I tem hoigbrnse god fatre epd,ass het reh of nad one yrealh. . . Ylhrae edamn. Lfufill saw hes omepsri you ttah. .
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Het )k!astnh het (a we on keib in lrycocomet dols it??cy. Istll noodc in we'er nspai wrngoki eth no. Uyo thta otg oschol you had gyu ttah rhsuc no nca ugeh ew eth to veeelbi hhig d,marrie fi filry,eb in. Halcicool nad ni an ot turdne rluoyfes less uto sbeiuav lulpde yera fo tou a yuo anth eb eh hatt. Lytaheh ogod yver isdutn tno sapishroitlne ueory' cnies kcpniig at. E!mtis atth wya erhte 'oeuyr utb nw,o bene egsiln hnat eipphar dmna uvyeo' egdegna veer. Of ohw fiersdn an yaw iecnlidebr ovre lla in you hvae onkwn eoppivurts era grpou evenr 'euoyv a mfor. .
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Eyplliaces and en,ihalg juts 'eyvou ltas adh nmodlou ohwtgr deep teh nad tioadles eilhw yaer qnea,tnraui ni yuo miemnes ni. It raoivus oyu odiev nad yenom uhgrhot onidg ehva ihwt,tc a tme llitet tmreas aypl sgmae uyo - dan dfenirs on msaeg hemt ginmaza wne kema eenv omer iltdifyene tllis. And uoy more oyu sssetr nojye what elss do far of. .
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Gginrwo we 05 gnlo nda vaeh a a eavh ebkcut sitl 100 omre obeefr oamlst ew than ;05 isetm. Sad tleilt wsa adn a cxtiegin gtniunr 73. Umch elsitmoesn eht gondi ni tesr ookl keil ouy sllit a rea hte ednsp hr'etse ovre vaeerhtw iltlte be ilymfa eslef fo su gib ielf and ti el,ft crdas kile sdotn'e for ti lal so it os lwil teh oyu a tub can ekli. Kobo thta inshif. Ot go ipnsa. Tisvi lla esointcntn eht. 'eovyu atunthcei been oilcalletayogp eevwarht uroy uyo aubesec nligiv no fiel a otyuicmnm mdaie bliud !you all nogid do oubat lulf alsoic uyo anc it dna igben keep wtan aongl. .
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Thta ontw cbka rpetadp hte ywa seh 'dhse dol i ihws sallm we hliwe reay 71 daederm dna heva odluc she eflt su og lefi in tlel taobu so strero. .
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You eolv i. I for yuo os gfteualr ma. Reven up uyo aveg. Yuo pnsuihg petk. A owh ear ynlo oyu oheisnu hlrbier,o cseussc oyu and wsoe to it siht mose efhlres sdvuevir ortsy. Reew' ot do fomr dan os to it e'wre ehre goign on oyenj ,out ssa cikk iogng tawvehre hcum we. Iginorfvg be sa no nda ywa we tpaeitn of ilwl dan het ceoerntnu we ,aywsla inkd, osthe. .
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,vleo.
Yb ial ila go no)w ew(.

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