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...

)dhgnaec uoy ddi uyo soem g(huhot rtiioepisr l,sgeurgt and got eihrvnyteg adwent tub ouy t!i. .
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Ew mhaatatnn do in levi. Ujts the ryou nda oyu yuo rouy spohe duisnt unysn roueg,ogs cbsuaee eht takemr dgiurn pcluoe had dhresac you you rehta a to a in adn asuspoci ogthtuh ksbocl noe npamtetar adn smedar aleev koebr nwhe veah gdar ciyt - had mttranaep mfor uoy ot ildev teh ohocls teh ew vlaee stol. Uoy od im' btu orsry, tinhk isltl ihm autob eyrev yad stmalo. Mhi tlsli vhten'a to yuo npsoke aniga. 'esh whit a won irderma ybab. Doewnr htat dowul obuta a hwta yuo ahev uoy itwh eebn feuurt in tlo like it. Uyo ryaes dpnse you thta erew to the tohwry ltsa 10 poevr rtigny him to. Oyu weer lsayaw. We,re you tbuao mcebae nda uyltr can yuo no httough woh ngwor to eb he repvo evol rdpuo tbu you mhi onejury fo nosoeem that. So so uyo udlwo eb oprud. Rae orupd so ouy. .
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Rmoe ouy a wtrei tlo. Arpeo nevlo (,tbsimauio we enerwt' tweri nda a ertdsta tbu dan rcok w)?alsay you heav toyepr a. Alog s'it a psi,ubeldh tub nto sllti tey. Cleiclyntah) yuo ttha enoudds a arlugom, 'ewll tewri leki evrne a e,nco so alrum,go uoy rbeif ctnou giteanmrh h(eyt rweto idd ofr a atht tub edam shiulbp omibiusssn ddi uoy fo as eracer rfo. Amdingei a ni ouy scolia a no aoypnmc eernv ognkirw in xe,dtise ye'uro apth tehc ofr imdea ssimaev krtieamng nuscgtnoli. Yuo it veol. Dan dbciilynre ewoorckrs rstma rae oyru puprtesiov. Call ouy yb uoy irvetfao own to orkw ulodonm uroy elpac apnmraett eucbase eht ,endmapic your unstarcya yoru gte frmo fo - - hwti deis eht. .
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Llist modnulo si radonu. Iwll crecna and atbe hits 12 eh eb memurs. T'cna mna 'ehs on blveeie eth odl an lpeoep tesetr. Dan he fro the sha ni ergney stpahipe het egbin atptieruon oignhohrdobe uyppp a ltsli gdo. Eyar ylraeh lats apesds mhcar ni. Eyadr nda saw 18 she ehs wsa. Eolv ehs in so the ifmlay cumh aegv all tuileovd adn hte thero acst. Emsoomatr nwo it iedvl iodspemr unoghe skbocl you oevm ofrm adn ouy royu eht hse nad ot neoc zyrac tnio cabk just saeomyd eamk uyo see her etpmraan,t eno olgn ync tihw o'dyu to ehr erasdh. Razcy tsi'. Pdases, of etm hre dgo rhalye iobnhesrg oen feart dna eht i. . . Ehrlya andme. She atht ouy lflfliu roeimsp wsa. .
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?i?tcy h!ks)tan ldso (a hte eht biek ooytmccler ni we no. Ogrkwni eht noocd in lstil er'ew nisap on. Rcsuh d,amrrei if dha uoy hhgi vbleiee oyu to byilr,ef ni het nca on olchso gto yug ttah uegh ahtt we. Luyroefs in be of na hlalcocio htat eh a to out ellupd uto ssel eyra nad redtnu uyo ntah svebuia. Nipickg lptsarioiesnh telhhya u'eory ont scine oodg undits ta yrev. Adnm reo'uy htta awy happeir enbe ever wno, tnha nlgies ubt reeht mit!es o'uvye gndgaee. Mofr nknow fo vaeh edrisnf uyo lal ivruoptpse woh vroe v'youe enevr in upgro ywa ear blenicierd na a. .
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The seenimm ni dna pede n,nateauqir oyu ewlih ulodonm astl hda in utsj vuey'o and yaer ahlegi,n grwtho staliedo iacpleysel. Lietlt on oding - emt nad oenym even orem ievod vhea thtiwc, nsdfeir atserm kaem thme new tuohrhg mages a pyla it yuo nda uoy ifledtynie tlisl mgianaz uirosav agesm. Uoy dan fo waht od elss oenyj oemr oyu fra erssst. .
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Eitsm 05 kteucb ;05 001 aehv ggnrowi rmeo nad heva we stli orfebe nhta nogl motasl ew a a. Tiletl aws nrugnit sda nda a 73 neigcixt. Eht fo it ters mcuh leesf ear gnodi teh os ti you us ubt lte,f yuo cna adn be lal 'estond erov rfo sedpn mlistesneo keil olok ni eth sltli lwil tletil hratvewe csard milfya it a keil iekl a so feil hretes' big. Obok atth nihifs. Og to snapi. Sntentoinc vsiit teh all. Anogl gnivli rewtaevh dmiae yuo uo!y tboau eneb ubceaes lal idgno nyctmomui ruoy 'uveyo ekep acn ytgolalaecopli nda od tanw eigbn chneaitut lfei bliud socail a no uyo it flul. .
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Ewilh nwot lod ni tell cakb hatt us 17 dppetra adeerdm sihw i elif heva toersr btuao og wya amlsl eflt eht eray seh lucod ehs dna os ew de'hs. .
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I eolv ouy. Ofr i uoy lfaguert am os. Evner uyo up geva. Uginhps yuo etpk. Tish emso only uoy woh ior,relhb hunoeis owes lhseerf oyu styro it to sesuccs a dna vdesurvi rea. Mfor ot everhwta ggnio gngio we wre'e os ynjoe ssa here no to cikk it od ewe'r nad hmcu o,tu. Soeth pnteita fnvgiogir ywa ew ew llwi and cnnrteuoe hte on fo eb sa awayl,s and k,idn. .
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Eov,l.
Ali yb )wno (ew og lai.

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