feeling...

Peaceful right?

feeling... sharp. dangerous. full of attitude. which, I guess, is just what a girl about to go to college ought to feel like. When you, future Anna, get this, it'll be ten years from now, and the passport that you got today will have expired. How was going to school in another country? Was it far enough away from your parents? What prompted past-you to write this (besides the fact that the trusty sketchbook/journal has gone missing) is the fact that, among all of the suitcases you were looking for in the attic today, you also found a hefty dose of family history. History from 1840. A picture of the family goat. Hand drawn sketches of the cottage. Letters back and forth between two feuding families. One family claims its daughter was starved to death whilst visiting the other. The other family is outraged because of a false arrest upon an unfounded accusation of THEIR daughter being a member of a house of prostitution. All insults and accusations in flowery, minute, faint 1840's penmanship, of course. I don't even know what the point of this email is. I just think it's weird that on the eve of your departure to distance yourself from your family, just when you're feeling incredibly independent, the attic delivers. Now, past-you wants to stay connected, be Bess's great great great great granddaughter, add her own tale to the many family stories. Past-you wants to stay in the attic forever, reading the family history. But I guess that's why college is good. So you can get the hell out of that attic and this house and make your own history. Go on.

Epilogue

3 days later

Ten years ago, I was a senior in high school aching to go to college as far away from home as possible. I wanted to see other countries and make...

Wno my rtiesso. Neev as ko htat — deit ti, tbu ngyetehivr flet uhlpoef eevla to dlnanpe mtoumaelnn i i ot ohme tlef and wsa. Goiesnmht pu no elik ueuftr ningpoe gnswi foeerb me ym saw. .
.
S’ti eurtuf yczar eb our imomeetss eth konw anc yuo wedip utb loecs donw a?wth anag,i ohw adn yawa nca livse. Htta gao tleetr 2200 wel,l ubt atht, etn snkow buato nenyoa wlel i aws ttpeyr trghhou terfa eerbfo ryeas ash tnrwiet rldaeen eth isx tohmns deilv isth ohw sloesn. Swa raccen ym whit ohrbrte sadngiode — i adn.
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,yas hrtig mlasto ot eguhon htree ’atsth. I mih antgik leeglco fiehnsid ned vene tgo a tehn few off nda be hiwt revne retaf ayers nicpeexere, eht ctylpia nlaleyvtue wtih uhthgo i phle cmohe het to in. Wileh go ym vdatatesde to i olglcee fi ro ienagttnd lelgoce reahtno ot meka be odtl nvee ni ntuc,yor ttha d’i phypa evrne im,seemor be fsle atye-a-geron i eeolgc,l ro typclai gto. The i osls utb of wno olss ogtihnn obretrh ttha rcadpoem to fo het oamsrphou know oems llehgepecoo- my si.
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18 lfes rmof elki a ta okol odl dna ronsep ayre coyteemllp ndietferf cbak eitoesmms i eefl i her my. I mgieani ixgtnise ueodtis e,inuevrs a ni but nhet erlapall of wseeomerh mtei reh. Ni taht ot waya tge ttsar erh rl,wdo ignttsi tereh shti feil nagnwti inwtgir aubot eteltr sseh’ nad dan. Floor igamkn e’ssh nda teey’hr gniog wno dan jstu otni adn moo,r at,r dwno tsrrebho’ dan eckoiso hten and het niewgadnr nda tabuo sintigt sdeifnr gginualh dan dna ehr on angkitl ohetretg orf umcis lwask. Twha gknltia how utboa tornenhr wlli etmi ubota dan of eth oen etyh het awnt vhea aleicdn nda mtestar odlh tehm riesmoem atht re,asy it het net htyere’ altkign oenn ot roeht noe be thta ese tno iianlzreg hatn dya ot no lwil olyn neo dya eong hritg efil fo to to wlil ,nwo leki roem olko og ni ghtreote ignnpsde ilsgt,h asrmde ot. Eh ym eridfn aws etbs.

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