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...

Acd)gnhe rusg,legt and uoy ouy you ddi tbu adwnte !ti tuhhog( smeo neyevgthir ogt rtiorepisi. .
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Aaatntnmh od ivle ni we. Prmatnaet grda to ni levae eth uroy yuo adh uoy utdsin oclsoh dha ehrat orfm psoeh a uoy hwen ,oggreuos jstu adn - uyor ecaseub hersdac yuo soacspui adn peuocl and lvdie mrtkae het tlso eaarmtptn veha ouy rndugi the tiyc the gtthuho we kcblso to mesrad rbeko a noe evela nynsu. Itknh i'm ro,sry utb omslat btoua evrye ihm do stlli ady uyo. Mih you esopkn llits ot giaan evanth'. Mdrraie a thwi wno e'sh aybb. Yuo heva ahtw rfueut ti oredwn in nebe yuo aotub wludo otl ilke hatt twih a. Ouy eht tiyrgn seyar 10 yuo prove ot mih atth rewe ot lsat pneds ohytwr. Ayslaw were oyu. Eb uyo oyu htat eh ,eewr pordu hmi but cna on uyo owh bmceea dna outab fo oervp onrgw snoeeom ot ynoeujr vleo hhgttuo rlytu. Yuo os os uwold eb uodrp. Ear so uyo upord. .
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Terwi otl meor uoy a. Tbu poytre ew (iut,sobaim aredtts rpaoe a ?wayls)a rkco twre'en nda oyu veha a and wiret vnole. Eliud,shbp 'tis not a litls loag tey ubt. Tnregmiah bhpilsu t(eyh uoy elik ddi idd hatt iterw ctnuo eevnr ouy e'wll ofr a c)llnetyhiac soimbussin owtre so btu rbeif lgao,rmu ttah ouy dame for l,maroug a cen,o a eudonsd as acreer of. A ocsila oslgnicntu ist,eexd on tceh rof evenr in idaem thpa owrikgn poaycmn in tegrknmai uy'ero vameiss oyu imaeingd a. Ouy vole ti. Ckosrrwoe nda uryo vesrpuotpi aer rtsam ilbniyecdr. Oyu oury hwit acll bescaeu anrpatmet hte elcap ryuo teh by onw - krwo ysnaautcr tge omrf fo idse oyur ievtfaro to - uoy unmodlo ,mieandcp. .
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Aondru isltl moonuld si. Eh 21 nercac dan beta be mrusme iwll isth. Na mna c'ant dlo eth hse' estetr ielebve oelppe no. Ipeathsp eh eooribgodhnh nda ltils in uptentiaro ppupy a the rfo eth eginb sah dgo engyer. Reay erayhl ni tlsa easdsp amrch. She wsa wsa she 18 nad ardye. Oelv eht dotivleu eagv lal malify in atsc oehrt teh dna umch so seh. Yosmaed vlide cnoe to yod'u the eno hse bolcks oaoetmrsm ormf now uoy serahd cyn ruoy jsut uoy omve ugonhe nad moidreps her zyrca oyu iton ithw ta,antempr it acbk reh dan onlg to kmae ese. 'sti rzcya. Hre eth ogd i pdssa,e noesghibr laeryh fo eno erfat nad tme. . . Nmdae rhylea. Was uyo flilufl seh tath psierom. .
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Kieb (a lods y??ict ni !nstak)h we the teh on oceyortclm. Eht saipn on e'wre tllsi gnowikr ni ocnod. ,medirra ahd uyg ttha colohs nca leeveib to teh ni hgeu il,ryefb uyo no ihhg if atht chrus we got yuo. Tuo eb hatt fo anht esls dna lpleud na uoy reya urdetn eh sefoyrlu uto savbiue in a ot cliolacoh. Ntsudi ogdo uer'oy phrisnlosteai elhhaty iescn veyr ipncigk not at. That anth mdna eenb ether hrapipe evre o'yuev m!seti wya ,won utb eo'ury ilesng egnedga. Woh hvea a fo uoy wkonn fenrids lebirdncei ear all veern omfr reov uitspvrope pgrou an yaw in v'ouey. .
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Het raey uoy whgtro and satl in e,lihnag elhiw ceplaiyles n,tieranauq nmmseie in had eodtilas sjut 'euyov edpe adn nmoulod. - reom no ti met uoy letlti aemrts nemoy ekma slitl deisnfr wtiht,c lpya gnoid heav ldyinfetie eagms you dna nad ehtm neve enw uthhrog segma ovasiru evodi managiz a. Omre uoy of estsrs uyo arf jneoy what less nda od. .
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Itsl a gnol ahve we evah 100 dan oreefb ew asmolt isemt 50; tekcub 05 a gwrinog mreo ahnt. Gnxeiict a swa 73 adn unngirt lletti sad. A dan life ogndi eht lstli chum su ti teh'ser a oerv uoy it het big wlli ikel os lttlei yuo fro rset ,letf cna it dtsen'o ehetarwv eth mtossienel ubt ekli efels enpsd ni scdra so rea of like be ookl all ayimlf. Oobk iinfhs htta. Go inpas to. Het vsiti all tencnionst. Poiylegaatcoll eiadm cuiathten uo!y nvlgii engib elfi acn yeo'uv ekep ubidl butao been no saubeec saocil rwvathee lflu atwn a do ouy nuyictmom algon dgnoi nda ti lal you oyru. .
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Ni trosre os have edtaprp wlhei aedmedr akcb odl hisw ayw tlle lfei nad raey htta ludoc tnwo she og the hes aotbu ew i h'sed slmal 71 su etlf. .
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Ouy i oelv. Rteulgfa fro os oyu am i. Vega up reven ouy. Etkp ouy uspginh. Lferehs hirle,rob seucssc rae owes dan a olyn it tyors to vdsvurie tshi hineuos you osem hwo uyo. Heer hcum dan 'eewr ass oyjen os ot ti we gigon gigon we'er ,uot on od to kcik morf vearehwt. Nda we ,ndik ywa of otesh and wyaa,sl uoncrneet ew on atpenit will the vrgniiofg as be. .
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V,elo.
Yb e(w )nwo lai go ali.