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...

Ogt uoy g,lgesrtu oyu wtande riisorepti uyo eevngtiyhr deacngh) utb ddi hhtguo( eoms dna !it. .
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Ni vile amtthanan do ew. Uyo ehdcasr ctyi stol het oscasipu aelev dan idtuns uyo omrf hnwe rouy pesho niurgd het ueeascb dha neo a jtsu mersad dilev eavh cshloo ryou gsrooueg, boclks in ouy dan rmetanapt we emkatr vleae hohgttu the reokb - teh ahd lpeouc gadr adn ttrpnmeaa nnyus ouy a ouy to to threa. R,sroy him you od llist nthki obuat but eyver 'im osalmt day. Agani ot ltlis imh kpneos oyu etnha'v. Byab mrdraie tihw 'esh won a. A keil wendro ouy buoat urfeut whit vahe twha ti ni would tol atht uyo neeb. Eht rwee sndpe you eysra rywtho lsat to you thta ihm oeprv ot gntiry 01. Aasywl eewr you. Of oesneom uytrl be htta wer,e evol wgorn yuo ouy rvpeo anc on yuo ihm uotthgh ebamce and pruod how ot jyuoern eh but oabtu. Os ldowu eb purdo ouy so. Os rpudo ear you. .
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A eorm retwi olt uoy. Ew volne itwre reoap rpteoy aw?lys)a osmb,(uitia t'rneew oyu nda ehva a utb setrtad and a okcr. It's a btu dbsehpi,lu yte lago nto still. A rtweo sa agr,omlu idd for ouy tunoc tbu irhgetamn misibsosun nle)hcaitylc a rfeib ouy eecarr os ervne o,nec rof ilke ellw' daem yuo lhusbpi erwit idd a that oum,rlga of (etyh ddeunos ttha. Renev tech eidma svmisae hapt a fro i,etesxd dmeiinag yuo on oeuyr' wnkrgio ni in a nrakgmtie olscai ynmcpao lciunnosgt. It loev uyo. Adn srkrowcoe nebicdylri prvseuitpo uoyr rea samrt. Sedi - pm,cianed rwko ynatrucas uoy won pamaternt - eth alepc ulmndoo aeitfovr to uyro yuro ubeecsa by clla of egt ryuo eht thiw yuo ofrm. .
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Is unador tslli mnuodol. Tbea nda lilw 21 mersum eh isth crenac eb. Seh' plpeoe na no eebevli etrest amn hte dol nac't. Ltsil eh dan ibneg the ppuyp orf nptarueito teh spiephta ni dog gyreen binodhrhegoo sha a. Alts eyra hmrac lrhyae eadsps in. Seh eryda 18 aws swa hes nad. And so retoh muhc in tcsa hse lal eagv eht het mflyia veol iudvtole. From uoy amtpaen,rt ihwt uoy eon she kema cakb tsmaroome gnol oint yrzca cny rouy adn neoc cbloks asdher ti see hte now stuj hneugo ehr to oyu oemv and to 'uoyd ieldv sopremid yomaeds rhe. Zcayr sit'. Erfta eon reh d,sspae god ignheosbr i dan teh yehral mte fo. . . Leahyr edamn. Repioms seh yuo swa lufflil atht. .
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Ni ht!)nask dosl eth the yreotcmocl no iebk we ?cy?it (a. No psian het in noocd rwee' tllis rwniokg. Hda to mirdre,a hihg gto cushr geuh uoy eht we oyu if acn guy taht that on ni f,rlbiey colosh beeivle. A eh lepdlu an to etdnru in sesl rysulfoe be otu isbueav adn out raey cociallho ttah you fo tnha. Ton pnikgci tndius evry sienthrasopli 'oeruy hahylet csnie ta good. Deeangg uoeyr' tnha eihappr btu on,w erve enbe 'ouyev ignsel i!tmes nmad ayw ehrte taht. Uoy veah bcdliirene rae all fo yaw vppetsiruo eyou'v erenv rfmo how puogr an nirfdes ovre ni a ownnk. .
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Aery and deep ni had ie,aglhn hte mlnuood nad alleicpeys tjsu gowrth ni idtlesoa ielwh yo'uev nntreaaiuq, alts you nmmseie. Goind on dan you apyl diveo aegsm veha adn roem - teiyeinfld nwe gmsae ,hticwt a htem vnee ifersdn it sitll tme sretam amgnazi rtguohh oiuvrsa lelitt oyu eakm yoenm. Trsess fo and mero fra ynjoe uyo essl oyu od hatw. .
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001 a dna we butkce tiems than efreob ew haev a lotasm 50 islt vaeh 5;0 ogwrngi nolg oerm. A tinurng ilettl nxtgicie aws 37 adn asd. Gib you you cmhu rof ltlsi btu fesel iwll cna teh het it limfya ee'rhts wreteavh oerv eht dnesp kile adn all loko rae setr su ,fetl os like fo ni ti tdneo's acrds tlitel dgoni a os ti esltosnemi a leki eb ilef. Ahtt kobo sniihf. Psain og to. Isitv ntctnieson teh all. Usbacee hetcuiatn enigb on vhteeraw indgo and salioc tabuo kepe oryu !oyu acn uoy noagl meida laotgpeillcoya all eyvo'u a fiel diblu iutncmmoy natw llfu ebne ti do yuo giinlv. .
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Hse 71 ddmeaer teh d'hse kbac way leif aery cduol wnto we lelt ni adn lslma ftel og shiw i ihlew aevh strore hes os dol us trapdep atth uobta. .
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Evlo i you. Am so uoy orf graefult i. Erevn evga yuo up. Kpte you gphnius. Rehlfes nad sweo woh it sesccsu visuvrde esom r,hierlbo rea tihs noly srtoy a usenhio to ouy oyu. Here ti and ewe'r oggin onggi wrvtahee to omrf ssa oynje ew ickk humc os eer'w o,ut to do no. Oggifnirv ctruneone eb lwli of ew yaw eht k,idn nad no ew tpntaie sa dna lsawa,y ehsot. .
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,evlo.
Lia (we go yb ila own).