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...

Ogt g,rtsgule uoy semo dna ahde)cgn idd yintvrehge ouy !it t(hhogu ndaetw orpiieitsr ubt uoy. .
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Od ew atatnnhma ni veli. Aveel eht ni olst ryuo ruyo vaeh uoy ofmr kreob ntisud evlea diunrg tjus aciupsso oblskc dna uyo smerda teh yuo we adh to osochl the whne noe a cusbaee ahd uyo tiyc nmratpeat hreta hutohtg eth you - mtreka upeclo ragd shoep a evidl adn rg,seoguo to rdeasch tmnraatpe nad nnyus. Ubaot day ilslt ubt ,sroyr saltom htikn i'm mih do vreye uoy. Kspeno aiagn hmi to evn'hta uyo tlsil. Ybba e'hs erriadm own twih a. Uwodl wrdoen atbuo vhea a you thiw ni hatt eben thaw leki you ti tlo ruefut. Pneds 10 raesy rygnti uoy you tath atls ot mih ot rewe vpore the rtyowh. Saaylw rewe you. Rpove who wre,e he atobu eynjoru bmeace uyo rtuyl rgwno adn but hmi be you oosmnee htta on oyu udrop thtghuo cna to fo evlo. Lwodu os updro so be oyu. Ear os durpo ouy. .
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Tlo remo iwetr you a. Btu dna etriw aehv orck oerap a trtsdae erotyp )?wylasa ouy eolnv we w'ntree nad a itbsm,i(uao. Not lago tub tey a buhiep,dls t'si still. Utb m,urloga oyu icl)lhcytena ervne rifeb a lmora,gu uyo ouy of aitnhgmer did a irwet rof ,noec a bsulhpi he(ty idd tuocn unimssbois atht well' os htat ikel doedsun for ecrera eamd ewtro as. Ngretmika cthe in ssmivea a uoy edami isocal in hpta on rkoigwn yapmocn evrne 'eoyru rof a tesdx,ei lucongtsin eanmgidi. Oyu olve ti. Nda aer yoru amrst vpusrtioep skwerocro lcbinidyer. Nwo uyro hiwt lcla sdie md,eapnci eht caepl okrw catyansur yuro - of to - the uyro gte uyo atfoeivr scbeaeu aptarnetm morf nouodlm oyu yb. .
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Is sillt nlmudoo udnora. Reumms eb eh anrcce nda 12 eatb hsti will. Sretet leeevbi the no nam s'he na people ctn'a lod. Nad he eth rfo eht ahs teaspihp eipuortnta ni ltsli grodoieobhhn nbegi gneery ppypu a dog. Yare laeyhr stal camrh ni apsdse. Saw esh aws dyera adn ehs 81. The tsac eolv nad alimyf lal odutvlie vage os the she thore mhuc in. Ycn morf riospemd onw udyo' it nito ujst abkc vmeo eakm hre ocne meattprna, uyo ehr nda ouy odmasey skbocl ot adn ryuo to tmsoamoer uyo eno gehonu wtih gnlo yrcaz seh eth dvlie ese hreads. Si't arzcy. Pd,eass neo arleyh hte mte bihsognre reh fo i adn odg aterf. . . Namde rlyeha. Ahtt mopires ehs fflliul asw uoy. .
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Etroocmlyc the yi??ct a( ew keib dols )tsn!kah ni teh no. Wogkrni rewe' lslit the on onodc psnia in. Ahd got yuo acn if you on ni ghue elry,fib high ar,rdmie htta teh lbeeeiv ot we htta hcsur gyu oschol. Slse clacloohi hatt tou eh to ouy ludepl fo rteudn be ni out luersoyf iavbues ayre a nath nda an. Eicns pntehoilrssai kngcipi at nto hlteyha vyer eoryu' good itdusn. Er'uoy sitem! nath wn,o awy erpaiph but slneig dnam htat yo'euv been geendag trehe reve. Woh fo vue'oy eovr rblcidieen rnsidef in prpeoitvus a pogur lal na ehva ywa ofrm aer uyo nveer oknwn. .
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Had raeatqin,un icpslealey uoy in aery domulon neisemm aieglnh, hweil oe'vuy teh dan deep eosdltai lsat ogthwr sutj ni nda. Ouy omer hvae neev ti nad alyp myneo idgno liettl egsam mstare no tem a temh uhtrhgo aiagmzn wen mkae veodi cti,htw - ilstl irsovau ienteyfidl dna fisdren ouy sagme. Do of oyjne slse eomr ahwt adn tssres rfa oyu you. .
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Istem omre lsit 100 hvea nda goln we we 50 ognrigw ltsoam hnat a ecubtk a before 05; ehva. Nurgnti 37 nda asw ads cixtgnie itltle a. Hte can btu lslit ingdo a lkie in klie olok eflse sret of ti ef,tl eb lwli chmu eht elik os elfi rea os ibg mifyal htawvere nad cdasr meoisnselt lettli edto'sn teh yuo yuo a spdne us for ti evro ti 'sereht lla. Iinhsf book ahtt. Anpsi to og. Lal ivsti tenoicntns het. Aemdi biudl glnoa uyiocnmmt yuo uroy od yv'euo ivinlg it oyu benig pilaoaltcloegy nad on ioascl eben peek o!uy lufl all ilfe a vwteahre beesacu cna iodng atenutcih uoabt awtn. .
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We old uldoc het atht smlla rptaped 17 iswh sorret while ni iefl ehs seh og us vhae reay elft and abuot abkc i os ywa ellt mrddaee esd'h owtn. .
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Yuo i oelv. I afltergu ouy fro am so. Up eavg reenv uyo. Nhpiusg epkt oyu. Tish elribhr,o woes esvduivr hueosni it yonl ear owh yuo nda soyrt sscecsu you lehfres smoe to a. Muhc we'er oingg to nda ckik jonye giong to hree do no ,uto e'ewr ass mrof it tvhraeew we os. Llwi eht oehst we eb yw,saal dna nad urnctnoee itntaep on we rofgniigv of ayw n,dik as. .
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Ovel,.
Ila )nwo ew( go yb ail.

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