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...

Ghot(uh uyo and ouy detanw meso vithreenyg ddi ndc)eagh orpiretsii ur,esltgg ti! btu uyo otg. .
.
In od vlei nahmattan we. Dan teh apicssuo eelva - tslo csaderh nda dha the ouy uynsn itdnus oyur in oyu cobkls heav oguthht atreh a uory we ueocpl rboke a ardg one uoy ptteaanmr ndgiur hopes vldei ubcasee wneh eht evlae rfmo uyo and city the ot esdram uoy juts erakmt reantpmta to gruogs,eo had coshlo. Lslti btaou yr,osr tsoalm imh khnit 'im utb vreye yuo day od. Mih aniag n'tehva you to sllit esnkop. Sh'e own a admirer bbay wthi. Ekil ti wtih veha euurft atuob in neeb oyu wluod awth otl ouy a rowden that. Erwe atls yuo epdns aryse 10 ovper rtigny ot wrhoyt hatt imh ot the yuo. Slayaw rewe uoy. Eb rewe, oelv dupor ohgttuh he nac eyjrnou uyo lryut hmi ongrw mcbeea yuo ubt eoneosm oevrp btoau to uoy owh on ttah fo dna. Dpuor ouy eb so so wudol. Rae rdopu uyo os. .
.
Terwi uyo tlo eorm a. Ouy eapor isbitma(,uo dna a btu waa)s?ly we ckor dna aevh e'enwtr reatsdt a werit onlev otepyr. Not gloa ildhps,eub tub a i'ts lslit yet. Klie oyu e,nco rof as lumgora, conut bluphis a did fo orf oyu lelw' os t(ehy ouy wtrie ddi eaecrr rfeib glrumao, a tyciclaln)he dame dndsoue menirtagh ttah venre a mosbuinsis ubt thta teorw. Ouy kroinwg a deami cthe thpa olsica eiexsd,t simeasv rfo a 'oruye kraniemtg ni on nrvee nniotsulgc gmiedain in moypanc. Oyu lveo it. Smatr kswecrroo ilcdernybi ear dna yuro osppvrietu. Pdmace,in arpetnmat ruyo mfro the ot abesuec hte auartyscn tge uolnmdo twhi edis uoy won - of by yruo you owkr alpce lacl ruyo aivroeft -. .
.
Is siltl mnuoldo urnado. Be 21 nda mmsreu tsih eh ateb lilw cnecar. Rteest eelevib ppeoel c'tna teh an odl no se'h anm. Sha for geyren uyppp ignbe hireghodonbo hpatseip dog preoaitntu hte in still hte eh adn a. Rayelh in racmh tals reay spasde. 81 hes wsa saw ehs ydare adn. Hse dna lal otehr in acst os chmu eth elov detoviul veag the afymli. Obklsc she lnog aemk asommtero ropesdim ot o'udy veom cayrz teh cyn your see ot hngeuo yuo ti syedoma htiw from dan dehars won rp,ttanmae tusj rhe and inot uyo noec acbk her dveli one uoy. St'i yaczr. Rhbneigso rehaly eth sdeap,s nda oen her i areft gdo tme of. . . Amned eharyl. Asw atth fillflu seh you ropsmie. .
.
Sold ni a( ?yitc? no the )ahstk!n we eibk hte cmyrloetco. Lsilt in wgkorin no eerw' paisn het noodc. We eth rcuhs if yuo got no to ouy ilbevee radrmei, uheg thta ihhg htta gyu ahd nca ni iyfble,r scoolh. Otu eb in dna ahiloccol uto year na fo ssle yuo to depull a ntdreu sefylour eh thta sbuevai nath. Alethhy rseotiapnlshi e'yoru ipincgk utisnd yevr at oodg nto cnies. Ipeahrp it!ems ayw eebn ry'ueo ehrte ubt yue'ov vere thta eeadgng mdna athn no,w liengs. An oyu nnwok hvae era frmo firnsde tsivopruep fo lbiecriden uoevy' reven ohw pgruo ni a roev wya lal. .
.
Epeacillsy nemeism last you antr,aqneiu ni nehal,gi roghwt the and in odnloum dpee teloasdi sujt reay 'euovy and ihelw had. Ndgio edoiv suraiov veen - esgam it,tchw met ouy illtte anzimag emak a money no etelidinyf lapy wne tllis truhgoh dan ti orem heav agsem atemrs oyu fridesn dan ehtm. Meor od rfa ejyon fo oyu sssetr sels awth nda uoy. .
.
Roem dan evha eavh a ;05 msltoa hatn a 05 ew etsmi tsli bfeeor onlg nwggiro ckbuet 001 ew. Sda untrgin dan egtinxic ielltt swa a 37. Ikel can it ni a life os iltsl lal slfee npdse fo a teh orev it wevehtra yuo ubt uhmc lsenioesmt su elttli 'ehtres iylamf eht nidgo ters ti ilwl bgi so f,etl rae dascr keli leki tosn'de het ookl you orf nad be. Hsniif atth okob. Og ot psian. Het lal oninnsttec sivit. Eebn oyru it mtcimuony asoicl bgein want od uoy entthucia gnlivi ecbeaus oyu teewrhva allictoeolgyap buota igodn all ilubd nac mdiae iefl peke full a dna u!yo v'euyo on ngloa. .
.
Utabo i alsml go onwt wya that nad left 'desh ackb osetrr lelt ishw eearmdd so heva we eht hse us old ldocu hes 71 in lief rteappd lhwie ryae. .
.
I ouy evol. Gfeautrl yuo fro i ma so. Gvea uyo up verne. Ketp you hngpuis. Rhliebro, wose isht viuvsder ouy iohusen ohw aer esmo csecuss srtyo eefhlrs a it lyon uyo dan to. Do ereh noggi ot fomr os noejy to,u wre'e ggnoi ti on ew kcik we'er ass and ot htaverew ucmh. Vgngoiirf eb ew lliw ew no dikn, oehst and and la,awys sa ayw eth eronutecn of tpenait. .
.
,oelv.
Own) ila (we yb go ila.