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...

Ym won sosetir. I aws — etfl ierhygtven elft taht to ko onunleamtm sa luheofp neve and ,ti hemo nelpadn ot tbu tdei i alvee. Geoinpn mhsitoegn elki me uteufr my pu was giwns on oeerbf. .
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Uro nca yaaw nad mestsmeio fruteu hte rzyca eb ?what losce cna s’ti ieslv oknw oyu who tub agn,ai widpe wodn. Tmnsho hwo i atth neaoyn hsit hte ldvei hsa tub nskwo trtype grhuoth ten xis ago wsa abtou nldraee olssne oebefr htat, lwel tlreet seray featr el,lw eirwttn 2200. I twhi ngeiaddso asw and — ym trbrheo erncca.
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Ot thrig tahs’t trehe ,ysa stolam nuegho. I eplh nthe gtikna vyelleunat be eyasr dna whti even i whti fof a teh dne enrve ohmec ceexiprn,ee teh iytplca tog lgleeoc ihensidf tafer in imh ogthuh fwe ot. Hatt iom,seemr liewh ro g-aeryen-toa ym i og elolceg atdvteesad or evne to ni coleegl ytcapil rnothae lodt eb ekma to i lesf nreev otg be if ngettadni ry,tunco ’di leo,lcge phayp. Htorerb osls reapdcom i of olss my to eht onhigtn pgecloele-ho si esom ownk own the fo htta ruoamsoph but.
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Old efls reay mfor i iredfnfte ehr ym dna i lkie soepnr a ta kcba momestise kool opmeeclytl eelf 18. Ehr uivrees,n allralep igenxsit iemt ni i geimnia stdeuoi btu weorhesem neth a of. Sttar to rwiitng aobtu gte s’ehs hrtee and ni awtngni gnsitit htta tshi feil dan dowrl, wyaa reh trleet. On uismc jtsu het dan ubtao iittgsn dan indsefr kwlas nda eoikocs ,art ktagnli rof reh own nteh oom,r nmkgai nda nad ertgheto yrehe’t nda s’treobrh foolr sse’h eiadwrnng onggi nad nad tion wodn nugaihlg. Thta hte gethorte mratste esdmra dna lhod kile liaendc oethr go ady ot eong ,tshgil be lyon teh noe tauob ot ialrniezg rnethnor to them eht htna atoub ti ray,es miet owh lliw in etn o,wn nda kool fo emsrmioe oemr thirg gailktn lliw to eno alkgnti ayd llwi ot neo of yhet ont see no pinnesgd atht onne leif atwh eahv eth’ery nwat. Wsa ym he erfdin tesb.

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