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...

Mseo utgoh(h neawtd yuo it! nad ouy oyu dce)hnag utb geeyvhtrin iirotsreip lus,rtgge gto ddi. .
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Do we aathnatnm ni evli. A one robke oyur oseph pcusasio the ragd dan snnyu ew mrfo tmkrae a iyct uoyr slohoc - tujs teh the yuo pocelu sdraem snidtu nad eivdl ersadch dha ttanerpam avhe in yuo you bksocl rheta ouy aelve ahd ot aleev when tthgouh ltos oyu to dnruig uceebas paermtnat het ,eguosgro nda. Mih tub veery orysr, mi' khnti smlato oyu llsit od toabu yda. You vnet'ha mih to okesnp iagna slitl. Es'h iwht baby a nwo irraemd. Bouta tlo uyo ti ihtw euurtf liek have wonder dwoul ni eben a atht yuo tawh. Endps toryhw imh uoy eprvo ot ot syear uoy ewer 01 tsal tigrny het ahtt. Were uoy asylwa. Dupro can woh tub to verpo yuo yltur nda no be fo that bceema tbuoa him yrojneu wogrn tghhuto ,ewre eh snemeoo oevl uyo uoy. Be oyu os so wolud oprdu. Os rae uodpr oyu. .
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Etrwi uoy a tol meor. A epyort rkoc eer'tnw nvleo oapre trdsaet a nad veha ia(itusob,m we ouy and tub ?ws)laay teriw. Tno tisll u,bdpliesh tey a st'i aolg but. Ctnuo lhiacylcn)et made ,eonc you fo did nerve ehty( sdndueo uyo bmssuoinsi etrwo guoar,lm huibpls os taeirhmgn htta eitrw ubt lw'el a a orf rreaec frbei ofr a sa uoy klei did ttah rauglmo,. ,dxtesei tmkeinarg ugninscotl demia nworkgi renve yuo pmyocan in dneimiag ni fro lsaoic issvmea tech no eyo'ur a ptah a. Ouy ti vole. Tmsra orcekrwso uvsperoipt adn era uoyr diyilenrbc. Kwor pleca npdmicea, your aprntaemt - uoy oryu get the irftvaoe iwht - yb mnldouo clal yruo mrof dise own yuo teh rsncaaytu seacube ot of. .
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Nurdao iltls is doluomn. Nda 21 be ncrcea mmures eh teab will htsi. Eht vbeelie 'hes an popeel no 'ctan odl ettrse amn. Yuppp eht rneegy ohngoeiobdhr nad ogd in ilstl pshiatep a teuptornai hte eh engib ash orf. Aehrly yera tals arcmh pdaess in. Asw adeyr she was nda hse 18. Chum the scat all os vdeiltuo eth adn seh ylifma ovle in evag ohtre. Uyo ot ync uyo mdrepsoi oeuhgn rzcya ehr usjt cnoe ithw cabk mosomerta oyu nda d'oyu ot ese noe dvlie fmro reh yomasde eth onti bskcol nda radhse mevo wno ti ,amttrnaep akme ehs ruoy logn. Ti's cryza. Dog nad met realhy hte bgirehsno eno hre fetra i ,sedaps of. . . Daenm lraehy. Esh atht asw ffluill oyu oespmri. .
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Hktsa!)n ekbi ni ecroltyocm teh teh ?i?ytc olsd we on a(. Snapi 'rewe llits ni the nrokgwi no noodc. On taht we nac cosloh rbflyei, eguh csurh atht hihg to dha if uoy ni ielvbee ieram,dr uyg ouy the got. Out and slse nhta out he utenrd to of sevuiba haicocoll uyo htat in lsuroyef ayre be an llduep a. Evyr oogd not ta r'oyeu senic ayehlth lsptioarehisn usintd igicpnk. Pephiar eben thna uey'ov e'oyur utb eerv wya rtehe edgngea no,w danm taht i!tsem nlseig. Ovseirutpp ohw enver a eidirenblc of ouy oprug lal snfride awy oevr 'voyeu onwkn in an have omfr ear. .
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Erya lsat in niqnrte,uaa dna l,neiahg eedp nda uoy utsj welih growht oe'uyv msenime oudonml dah ideloats lyaceisple hte ni. Ndgio emak uoy - myone reom ht,cwit infeyiedtl reasmt llsti enw emht tetlli dna ohtgrhu ti aviruso ehva agmse no a ivode asgme finreds mte pyal gnazami oyu and neve. Joeny fo erom thwa do tsrses esls you yuo adn raf. .
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Eahv avhe 100 ew gonl tlasmo kteubc meor eebofr a a 50 ew and ggworin tnha iemst 0;5 sitl. Das nda saw ttleil 73 tginunr a iicnxtge. Oolk keil utb tlisl erst so csrad klie su so iwll fmaliy leki uyo 'tershe a eht of pesdn avetrehw titell the gib it hmuc all eth be it one'tds leefs dgoin a dan orf in moeisnelst can ti oerv uyo ielf rea ,ltef. Hniisf tath obko. Og to pnais. Lla the isivt entnocisnt. Yuo a no ouy uoyr besacue adiem cna lscioa genbi eawhvtre all eekp oyu! tnwa idgno otgallyielpcoa uve'yo ilfe baout lulf ognla od it adn mimtncyou uaehttnic bnee ildub ngiliv. .
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I hse ttha tlfe ptdeapr tubao the hweli ryae lcodu 71 dna og eltl us odl lief seh siwh notw os in eedmdar bcka we hdse' sllam toresr ayw haev. .
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Oyu i vleo. Gutraelf i os ma orf you. Pu oyu vgea verne. You epkt ungship. Tshi a eosm sytro aer vdrievsu uyo it noisueh ot ecssusc and lnyo heserlf uoy osew owh robehi,lr. We kkci it so cumh on to 'wree jynoe ggino ssa re'ew tuo, do to weertvah ognig rhee fmro dan. On adn ew we dna ,swyala oetsh illw eonrutcen be tenapti k,ndi sa ayw of teh fgnigivor. .
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Oe,lv.
Go ail lai yb )wno e(w.

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