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...

Tog tl,seurgg nda uoh(ght adntew ddi )ecahngd proiseriit you uyo semo tub it! yuo tiehgrevyn. .
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Od lvei we htnanaamt in. Seaubce you yrou dnrgui ot uoorgsge, oyu tatmnarep ahtre oyu a nad icty you rsemda synnu leave ofmr drag het - vleea dna hda httgouh eth dah ivled henw dna lshooc ujts olupec oyu oerbk bcsklo sciuoasp het ot yoru oepsh taerkm ntsiud lsot neo ni prnmtaate dceshar a het ehav ew. Yad r,yros ouy 'mi knthi veyer do slatom oubat ubt mhi slilt. Igana uoy pesnok mih ot litsl n'htaev. Twih ybab mrriaed a nwo she'. Werond oyu thaw oyu it hiwt tol ni ahtt owdlu vaeh abotu eben uuftre a iekl. Teh rewe sreya orytwh tsla to tngryi uyo roepv oyu 10 ihm to npdse ttha. Uyo lwysaa rwee. Ahtt cambee how uabto evopr htouthg duopr but him oyu nda no nac eerw, ltyru he rnyojue ensomoe be of ot ouy ngorw uoy ovel. Oyu be so odpur wuodl os. So uyo odurp aer. .
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Tweri uoy a more olt. Lveno trdtsea nad typero a we tweri a (m,otisaubi tbu and aproe weernt' kcro ehav asw)y?al yuo. Eihusdbp,l nto t'si tye llsit a aolg utb. Deam otcnu hslbupi a sodndue tath lgo,mrau gaol,rum aiergtmhn irfbe alihnect)ycl uyo as you rtiew rof rotwe did so well' ekil ceaerr vnree a buimsoinss a idd orf yte(h e,con atth you but of. Nugsolcnti iadme ni no thpa a masisev fro ouy ymcaonp kirgwon tnrimgkae tx,deies iadiemng slacoi cthe vener a ni rue'yo. Ti vloe yuo. Yuor eokwrorsc tsram oisppturev nad ibidcrynle rae. Atrvifoe oyu iesd - ateatnpmr own oyru egt - ouyr yutarnacs fo eecbasu frmo owrk hte yb lcal uoy the umndloo ihwt ,enpcidma to yuro cepal. .
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Ltlsi is oumodnl uadonr. Crenca esmrmu 12 he itsh dan lliw beta be. Natc' ppoeel sretet 'seh lod nma lveibee hte no na. A sha dog in yreeng hte teh eh nda ioupatetrn ohebgriodnho ltsil upypp rfo geibn tpeaisph. In raye acmhr rlehay atsl sapsde. 18 ehs aws areyd nad asw she. Amylfi ovel in teorh umch dna all teh eiltdvou tsca eth vgea esh os. Uoy nehguo ehs enoc aeshdr won tnraatpe,m nlog ees kmea her cyn noti noe her oyu evldi ryazc hwti kacb yoru ersoommat odyu' dan from dposremi bslkco it ujst dan ot ymedsoa uoy ot eht moev. Arczy 'tis. Gdo yralhe oen tem i nda het aretf fo sd,aspe nebiohgsr her. . . Aednm lahrey. Lfilflu hes uoy esimrop taht saw. .
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(a ew ah)s!knt het lercooytcm ebik i?yct? lsdo on in teh. Kiowngr on tlsli ipsna ndooc in teh 'reew. Ew no uoy uoy gyu thta csholo in ahd sruch ,flieybr hhgi eht imd,rear gheu ot evbeiel tath got if can. Uto rduten looahilcc reya nad na vaisebu ouy fo pduell oslueryf to be ni tanh he uot a htta sels. Gkiipnc athlehy godo iunsdt at scien ont y'oeur very hniasptsrloie. Dgeeagn tath herte tahn ngiels nmda w,on e'ruyo bnee pareihp way yoeuv' i!tmse but erev. Hwo 'veyuo of tpusvroepi ownnk a gopur lla ni awy an are evah evor dinrcibele envre romf uoy sdfrine. .
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In dna arye ,anghlie eismmen wgothr nad llaieycspe 'veyuo tsju ni ihwle uq,anaertin eped yuo olduomn the doatisle adh tlas. Ltilte - etm gamzian ltlis even deoiv wen kema diieefytnl play ti aviorsu emor godin gmaes nad on strema uyo guothrh a emgsa have hemt dan cwt,tih uyo yeonm dnfseir. Erom arf oejny lsse ouy do sterss awht fo uoy and. .
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Tlomas reofbe anth 50 dan heav 100 we gwrongi rmeo a teism tlsi we tubeck nlog a ;50 evha. A asd cetxiign ittlle was 73 nad irugtnn. Ti all su anc orve eeslf be leik etllit rea sltil ni efil muhc olok os dgoin evtaehrw you stelsmoein it dna lfiaym nsdep leki eth tdoe'sn a eikl but gbi eth a eth so ascrd sret yuo fro of lliw re'eths ti ,ftel. Sfhiin kobo htta. Go ot asinp. Lal itisv icnntensot eht. Anwt oe'vyu kepe o!uy dan yaeiclpglolato oindg flul mdiae oliasc botau oyu niegb vrwtehea ttiahcenu yuro itcymomun lal buecaes it a oyu flie nebe do cna on lnago lnviig lbudi. .
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Ddarmee i ew odl left ehs hweil su cuodl sde'h srerto hte hse have awy taht nda ayre wton small wish utabo og ltle ni 71 os terdapp ckab flei. .
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I ovel uyo. Ufrgtlea i rfo you os am. Nrvee ouy up egav. Uyo hsuingp tkep. Uihsoen oyu a hseelfr ystor dan rae thsi scessuc woh msoe l,rberioh lnyo sewo to ti vvisredu yuo. Ot hcmu gonig ssa vthreawe it ojyen to on from wre'e ickk do nad t,ou we os heer noggi r'wee. As ietpnat rnutnoece of otshe on dan het we ndk,i dna viirfgnog be we y,lwaas lwli awy. .
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Lov,e.
Yb ial og (ew )wno ila.