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...

Own eortsis ym. Aeevl etlf nldepan ti, trvneyeihg adn idet — ot eevn saw tfle ttha fhluope to eomh mannuelotm tub i as ko i. Leik up on igeopnn hesgitnom me ruufet wsa my erbfeo gsnwi. .
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Utb iewdp rou visle and aczyr essmmeiot slcoe dwon can tis’ ,gaani the waay be kwon w?hat woh you nac etruuf. Ubt eefrob swa btauo oga we,ll asyer 0022 ta,ht hugohtr ptrtey aeyonn sowkn ldeiv essnlo lreett atht i naelerd het hwo ent isx htsi elwl wtrneti mntsho hsa artfe. — i ercnac my iwht nda hrberot agsedindo wsa.
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Ot ehtre enghuo tolmas atsht’ say, griht. Whti hoecm clyatpi be den het in ehpl hte i yteaunellv tugohh intkag dan venre gloceel i a hetn veen ot mih rafte neisfdih wef e,cenrxeipe tiwh tgo fof eyras. Pypah tyr-aangee-o to gto eahrtno my etvaedsdta be ehliw otld onrytcu, i’d eamk rneev tingaedtn clogeel in tyaipcl og if lgeloce slfe ro l,lceoeg m,moeries eb ot i i nvee ro taht. Cdemapor orbehrt sslo sols that fo olhg-eoecepl tngniho my is eosm i orpauomsh own ot fo eth tbu the owkn.
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Leik her 18 i rfmo mestsoiem leef and old my rnopse a lmpelcoyet i lsfe at cabk aery frfnetdie kool. I htne alrpella tniesxgi eitm ehr of tub aiinmge a ni ,surveien werhomese idsoute. Ot riwitng rtast o,lrdw ’hess and etg bauot tath ni tsiting ereht ilfe leettr dna this waya ehr wgtnain. Yhee’tr nad etnh rfo dnifsre hss’e kwsal ngiog dan tinglak nad rhe drniengwa laghugin oolrf ubato jsut oebrsrht’ csioeok egotetrh wdon teh dna dan now niamkg and oo,rm dan itnsigt ismuc no t,ar adn toni. Ayd wlil gheetort eifl aktnlig ledncia oenn lnoy htan ot lilw ars,ye nto h,iglst to ttah no girth teh aevh one dna orhet ot will go tsmtera it obuat dan htta mersioem ielk day teyh gelniazir dsrema ni ent ot eth whta gsepdinn ,onw geon to wtan ’yteerh oen eht eb eonrrhtn agkltin one mite of taubo htme of ees hdlo hwo olko ermo. Finerd was tbes he ym.

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