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...

Uoy osem dna nad)ecgh ireiptrois rtyenhgevi h(ouhgt idd sug,etrlg aentdw tog oyu uyo i!t but. .
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In nnamahtta do leiv we. Ew ouyr seo,uoggr a bokre dna elvea ot ahev yuor nisudt stol paemttnar sdarceh rgda dan you - uyo sjtu dna snnyu fomr uoghtht raanttemp lpcoeu ewnh dnrgiu eth ldiev iyct the solbck teh siposcua to yuo ni het a locohs market hater eshop dha yuo seceabu oyu ahd one edrams leave. Kithn yuo tauob od mih mi' mloats ,yorsr tub sltli eyvre day. Mhi to koepns enaht'v tslli yuo aniga. Wno whit mdreira hse' ybab a. Oyu wluod ti hvea uyo what liek thiw a tol tobua htat uutfer renowd bnee ni. 10 eovpr tlsa gyrtni ihm eewr yeras wrtoyh uoy uyo atth ot npesd to het. Awayls ewre uoy. Er,ew uodrp grown uoy hutgtho eb to ouy ubt loev utboa oenmeso nac fo and mih ylrtu on uoy oeprv hwo ebmace htta he neuyjro. Be uopdr oyu so os ldowu. Aer os ouy udrop. .
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Omre oyu etwri a tol. Ew dna utb yaswa?)l kcro dtrtesa poera ewrit a a ehav onlev bsmui(ot,ia ouy pretoy eertnw' dan. Yet st'i otn p,uhlsdbei lltsi but a aglo. Ttha enrev thta arlugmo, eikl eowrt rmu,gola orf (thye gthmareni fbrie ndoesud ishlbup as os but a werti 'well nalyc)litehc you oyu octnu yuo oe,nc a a fo sosiubmnis for did did aemd crraee. Ni eandigim nreve eimad ni vaismse on solgnitnuc a inwgkor uoy ilsoac orf tech dte,ixes tahp nkrgtaime a er'yuo noacpym. Vloe ti yuo. Dna tsamr risteouvpp blrcniiedy ear ruyo ksorwrceo. ,cmeipand uyo to wrko fo the nasauycrt - cuseeba allc - ntaraepmt eht pleca you etg with yuro oyur mrfo nwo yb uonoldm iesd ouyr avfetiro. .
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Si lstli dlomnou anudor. Sith eh 21 tbea llwi nda emurms eracnc eb. Eh's nam odl na an'tc on elevebi polpee esettr hte. In dog igrdonboehoh hte nad eh orf ppheitas has teh a pppuy biegn eegynr sllit pneuoairtt. Pssade stal alehyr in mchar eary. 18 ehs asw and she rdyea wsa. Ctas leitvoud het egav so umch veol trohe all in het and flaymi ehs. Ti otni smioeprd ehr she oen dsomeya teh see akbc uory uo'dy eonc raemoosmt make rzcya and nwo deliv ihtw long sblkco uyo haserd aarnetmp,t to adn oyu vmeo erh gneuoh oyu romf ot cyn stju. Czary i'ts. One mte her i ryleha of nad dasp,se iobhenrsg ogd hte raetf. . . Naemd arylhe. Hes asw lfiulfl htat ouy peismor. .
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Oemlroycct in eth sdol kbie khasn)!t on hte ?tyic? (a we. Weer' tilsl isanp roknigw no ondoc eht in. Yuo hegu fi atth ygu md,arire ahd tog ushcr oslcoh ew on veebiel ni ot hte e,irbyfl ahtt ihgh uoy acn. Ni year denrut ouy ttah hnta tuo tou luledp uaivebs adn lccooiahl na elss a resofuyl eb he fo ot. Tlahhey vyer tno ta sspehlroaitni ndutsi escni ryue'o odgo kigipcn. Adnm sm!tie nebe ehpiarp ywa enlsgi nwo, eerv htta voyeu' naht ubt ehret geegdan orue'y. Who eisfrnd in an lla cereniibld vroe neevr nnwok a yuo yeo'vu aehv rae of gurop mfor pepuvsroit way. .
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Tusj eht ni tsoledia trnqaaeun,i slpaeyclie nda had ewlih year in voyeu' gin,ahel dna ndoumol peed esemmin lats you rhtwog. Staemr tgrohuh eagms uyo esnrfdi znaamgi aekm edvoi rmoe etllti uyo ypal - hitc,wt eevn etm oymne thme litls easmg new a dna teilefyind nda nidgo asirvuo on ti hvea. Nda less fo arf meor etrsss you do uyo ahwt eynjo. .
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Temis a oemr adn ew vahe 05; otamsl eorbef oggrwin hnta 05 veha tlis ebctku a ew logn 001. Ads 73 nrguint saw a gxecniit adn etllit. Ielttl uyo dt'sone elik yfalim eefsl rtwvheea of eb elif it lla het 'rhtsee gib acn lkie vroe rae ndgio and it rfo llsit it ouy in rest eth like os a su ilwl seteonmisl but tef,l so a teh csard npeds humc kool. Ookb that hsniif. To niasp go. Stvii eth nesntnoitc all. Retwveha lidbu uboat ou'eyv ingeb atwn nbee lful kpee uceseab efli yuo lal vinigl uyo ti iagyllaolecotp acn gnloa do miade no !you a itetuncah dna oyur dgnio lioacs utncomyim. .
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Efil etfl so seh peapdtr og htta ew us almls in uoabt she'd way bkca 17 dan letl odl ihlwe ryea i hes eht ucodl aedmred nowt shiw roster veah. .
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Eovl i ouy. Yuo gealrfut rfo ma so i. Aevg eervn uyo up. Ktep hugispn ouy. Ehsrefl tish it are uoy to suscesc adn beoir,rlh uvvedsri you oenhius soryt woh a ylon seow smeo. ,uto erwe' ew 'erew do to ssa adn on it ongig etvwearh uchm ot so kick yenoj hree ingog fomr. Will ew eth trceeonun tsohe eb nad niivogfrg sylwaa, iaenttp ,indk fo on nad ew wya as. .
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V,eol.
By og )now ila w(e ial.

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