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...

Gto gndahe)c thoghu( oeritrispi aendtw adn oems !it uoy idd gugse,rlt uyo rtevhnyieg ubt uyo. .
.
Ntnaatmha in we liev do. Thhtoug aevel to one elvea rouy dgnriu yuo socolh ouy luoecp - enwh mrsaed ujts dgra eahv ew ,rgoosuge osehp obkcsl siupcoas a eakmrt nuyns eobkr atehr cyti you ahd a ptarnatme enaapmttr hte sechrad adn dan dha uyo het in eth slot uoy rfmo adn uebeacs yrou evidl het to tdusni. Utoba yeerv ubt ltsil smolat hmi do m'i you o,rrsy hnikt ayd. Ouy avhe'nt him kepsno ot sltli gnaia. Eramdri a seh' wno bbya htwi. You owredn nbee uowdl veha tol btauo like a ttha in oyu ti hatw reuutf thiw. Trhwyo evorp atsl eerw yuo het atth yuo tgnyri ot to seyra 10 him ednps. Rwee slwaay uoy. That porve fo ouy be maecbe btu you ewer, ot nca he evlo who mih lrtuy nda orpdu yuo noesmeo aoutb gthtuho erjonuy on nwrog. Dpuor be you so ldowu os. Odupr are you so. .
.
Ouy ewirt ermo lto a. A adn lvoen buio,sam(it utb a adn seartdt trwie ternew' have eraop okcr uoy rotepy wyasa)l? we. Eyt btu ton dlp,iushbe a gaol itsll st'i. Ahl)yitcclen so uyo reitw tbu nerve a efrbi you l,oagmru idd nce,o tath esndoud a ofr hiulspb retwo fo 'lwle iarhentmg sa a nucto htat hety( oubsnssmii idd eaercr fro you leik eadm a,gmlruo. Chet dmenigai in athp idmae for you ocnlntguis on gwoknir ni a a myapocn dsteixe, gianmtrke enver eisvasm solica y'reuo. Ti voel you. Uspoprivte trsam ear roowrkesc iceirlbndy ruoy dna. Etg alcl neipdmca, omfr - ot fo idse mudolon oyur tarveoif by - krow the ryuo enattaprm abecsue pealc eth own with oyru you uyo srucanyat. .
.
Is lislt oanrdu nuodolm. Naecrc eh eb urmesm illw hsit nda aebt 12. 'antc dlo hse' setetr olpeep evelibe on na nam eth. Hsa a odg eingb he ptpiaseh rof rngeye dan tsill ni ohgonbdroeih yuppp iptonateur eht teh. Eyar ni slat rlheay cmhra pdases. Was saw hes hes 81 dan eayrd. Hte scta os evag eorht the ilfmay hes ni much uetolvid lla elov dan. Ot seaoydm kmea ouy'd adn ncy hitw rhe oyu skcobl ouy ghoune uoyr own ese ipmdoser hre etpaantmr, mtosroema uyo mrof bakc esh ceno stju to logn yzrac het evom neo dhaers it dan onit ilved. Cyrza 'sit. Het emt bngohseir asdsp,e leahyr i hre fo eon feart adn gdo. . . Demna aelrhy. Aws you esriomp htat luflfil she. .
.
(a no ni eibk ic?t?y we htn)k!as teh eth octrcyolme odsl. The no in oodcn were' wngriko lltis spina. Otg you hhgi thta eht beeveil sochlo ni ot uoy ew rfleby,i ucrhs fi nac imaerdr, gehu gyu taht no dah. Nad an out to frlseoyu tath a uyo vusabie tnah eb elss ryae eh in oolailchc plueld netdru fo uto. Ahtleyh ou'rey nesci tidnsu opehilsaintsr kinpcgi ont ta odog vyre. Yaw tbu hant no,w tiem!s apprieh andm adegegn rvee rehte yeuro' bnee ttah eyv'ou lniseg. Na yaw uoy opugr eouyv' a are fo eavh riceielbdn who upospitrve iednfrs ni onwkn lal fmor nreev eovr. .
.
Sinmeme thworg in dan inea,rtaqnu adn eth iaepesycll pede ihwel jsut e'uvoy oolundm in yuo dah iasdoelt aeyr last halnie,g. Emth yuo tleitl dna apyl nsirdfe hgruhto isllt sgema naizgam ewn orem taresm tem nyemo oidev donig aivurso oyu keam no it vhea ,whctit dna - vnee a gasme itneylifed. Dan slse onejy of ssetsr far do yuo hawt you mreo. .
.
A etubck 100 lgon ;05 dna islt 50 veha nworigg aehv we oerm tnah refboe mteis a ew somlta. A nad gniuntr wsa das 37 eigcixnt tlelti. Tvhwreea be lkei es'dnto yuo iogdn f,tle psnde erov leik eefls eht racsd sisnmloete are ti mhuc lla nda ti life flymai a igb btu so teh a it orf os ni lkoo setr ltsil eth su reest'h can tltiel ouy ekli illw of. Thta oobk ihsifn. To go naips. Hte all tsivi nncsotinet. On eekp ewvhrtea a obatu lful ifel ibegn mniucmtyo do ti olaytlcealgopi iadem vyoeu' bluid your lla oailcs ebne vngiil twan y!ou anthcetiu scabeeu adn gonal nca ouy gnodi uoy. .
.
Ltef tlle the wton vaeh acbk raye docul ehs so us hatt ew flie i ehs abuot dlo lmsla in go swhi way e'hsd 17 deerdam rtdaepp trorse dna lehiw. .
.
Oyu i elov. Os i rof ma lfargeut ouy. Pu yuo veren agve. Gsuhpin uoy tpke. Shit who oews neusoih lyno aer adn ouy ot it esrelfh mose ysort visedvru a uoy sescscu h,relobri. Rewe' do oingg rehe ckik 'reew rmfo ot on and oging o,tu os sas ew onjey ti muhc erhaetvw ot. Teernocun nad igngifrov nda no sothe as ,wslaya ndik, of we we teh ywa lwil eb intpate. .
.
Leov,.
Go w(e o)wn lia ila by.

This user has written an update to this letter.To see what they wrote, please

Press ← and → on your keyboard to move between letters

Write new comment

Load more comments