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...

Ouy tbu rtoiiiserp did uoy agdenc)h ygrentheiv oyu some i!t tnadew hgto(hu adn tog s,ulgegrt. .
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Taanahnmt evil do ni we. In etpaatrnm dah istndu to gog,reosu okber armket teh to a mofr drasche icaosusp oloshc esramd adn laeev ew uhthtgo nrtaeptma olkcsb yoru noe ouy dna hvae nda yuo veela ecbueas dha opelcu dvile yuor trahe cyit teh lost uyo uyo sunyn jtsu eohsp the nweh uoy teh drag dguinr a -. Ihm ktinh utb boatu lotmas do rso,ry litsl yrvee ayd 'mi oyu. To mih uoy anaig llist kesnop a'tenvh. Rreiamd hse' now byab a whti. Uoy ahtw rueutf uoy hwit taoub ikle wndero in tath ebne a lot it lwudo aveh. Rseay hatt mih 01 eht gyintr ot to ewre epnsd you aslt tyhwor uoy evrpo. Salywa ewre uoy. Imh uoy of ubt no oyu oevl eh taht ropud eabemc ot aoutb nac roevp and you ohthugt tyurl nsoomee who ogrnw eb rw,ee nerojuy. You uowld dpuro eb so so. Ouy aer os udopr. .
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Otl uoy ewrti more a. Sabiu,o(mit wtier and vnloe a rtsdaet wenrt'e tub and oaper treyop cokr ?waa)yls ew aehv a uyo. Hdpsui,ble lago yet s'ti but not a tills. Ncout dmea sa etwir you idd ofr a a rwteo romu,gal did sibmsonisu a ofr you so oyu tath oundeds )lnhlccaiyte ubt ihreatngm efirb of taht y(eht el'lw a,golrmu piblush liek cneo, enerv areecr. Aiedm tgkmneari ouy a on wgnkrio in eernv aoilsc apht ltgucisnon orf a ,eetdxsi ni eyuor' eaimignd onamypc htec iasmevs. Oyu loev it. Era utvepoipsr dna scroewrok rasmt yoru eilydbinrc. Ndulmoo - aretatnmp egt aed,cpnmi romf clla - yrou rntaycsua oyu tioarfve of ouy itwh oryu ieds bcsuaee eclpa rowk yb ryou hte to eth own. .
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Litsl aoudrn si udlnoom. Msmuer nda siht lwli 12 eb aetb he cneacr. On sh'e iveblee ldo ppolee mna a'tnc na terest teh. Gneyre tlsli uppyp fro has egbni dgo dna ni het a derbgohonhio he eppihsta oietupntar the. Ehlayr ryea ramhc asdsep ni salt. Saw she 81 she erady swa nad. Gave os uhmc udilveto eorht lal acst in nda oevl esh ylaifm the the. Ot oyu royu toni coen redsha neo etnrtm,aap wno ujts eht move mkea mastorome ese to bksocl kbca admesoy mdoipsre uehnog fmro and it ognl iwth 'oduy uyo hre and hre nyc azrcy hes dliev uoy. Is't aryzc. Of insreohbg met p,esdas noe dog dna aefrt i hte leayhr ehr. . . Aendm yerhal. Lffluil esh aws atht sopmire yuo. .
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Dsol a( no ctloycomer iyc?t? tna)k!sh het het beki ew ni. In on oocdn kowignr ee'rw lslit naips teh. Dah ,aemrdri on oyu can eht evbeeli tgo thta ni you to sruhc ew ehgu hgih byefl,ri if ahtt ygu scohol. A fyoesrul undrte to you anht of thta sesl uot eb he an in sabeiuv uto nda lupdel lhoaocicl eayr. Lheyath ro'yeu eyvr at not kpincgi hnisitsrpelao itduns godo ceisn. Htat eroyu' evre etsmi! silegn yvoue' geeagnd ywa btu rhipape hreet nebe amdn n,ow tnha. Itvsoppeur irdsefn gorpu rea rfmo veha wnkno lirniedbce wya nreev lla yuo'ev vroe of in owh ouy na a. .
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Hte lyiceapsle dah tlsa ni adn wheli aen,itnqaru jsut pede whgotr yuo nihlgea, uomnodl erya and uv'oey in emmsein deoatlsi. Maek amges astemr met telitl iteynflied alpy agsme ouy urohgth eorm it no dniefrs ymeon you ctt,wih tmeh hvae dngoi a tsill dna enw eenv and viorusa aimznga - ovied. Remo esstrs fra waht you nda fo elss ejoyn do ouy. .
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Adn cuebtk mtesi we oreefb 50 slti ;05 nolg orme tlmosa hvae 001 ew eavh a tnah inwgogr a. And itellt ads uignntr wsa a 37 tcenigix. In a cmuh stre teh vroe klei yuo ilwl ti nsped us nac seelf it tlef, seehtr' oolk be esmnoietsl tosedn' efil igb odnig eikl rdcsa so eht os hte but nad you ofr aer ti fo lkie a lmfyai htewvare sillt lla tlteli. Kboo nfhsii atht. Go pnasi ot. Ivtis eht enconsttni all. A eben ufll vehtrawe anc aognl it lniivg uoy! apgoeillolyact meida od budli onmicmtuy iefl you dgnio touba naeuhttci oyu uecaebs rouy keep csliao nbige on want yovue' lal nad. .
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Ehs old eth feil nad os trpadpe almsl etorrs way ni cbka us i ds'he ellt ielwh yaer tefl twno duloc tath we vhae 17 seh btauo edreadm go hisw. .
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I evol uoy. So uaertgfl ma orf i uyo. Ouy envre up gvea. Eptk uoy hipunsg. Eiuosnh a ohw fselehr brohl,ier eswo stih it you era dvvsueri ortys cucesss yuo dna esom ylno ot. Ewre' eyonj ,uto and so rofm giong gnoig kkic we re'ew uhcm it ot no waheetvr ot sas here od. Ohste ndk,i het as awy dna of sya,lwa tapteni no cenneuotr and be niovgifrg we lliw we. .
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Leov,.
Yb og o)nw ila lai w(e.

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