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...

Neg)acdh ogt !ti uoy esmo uhgt(oh gegtr,sul yvehtrineg uoy and tdnwae you idd rsieitiorp utb. .
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Levi we tmnatnaha in do. Reamkt jtsu hreta hacders oyu ni dha we ueaebcs uoy uyo eopulc mdsare eogruog,s vaele hte evael and eno cyti nda rfom teh niduts aneapttrm eht you sunyn lsot totuhhg ocsolh ot uscpsoia dgar ahd to ugindr a - rekob the ohesp wehn yruo kcobsl and aveh pemrnatat you a yruo idevl. Hmi s,rryo you oabtu llist iktnh tub mltoas ayd 'im veyre od. To you lstli vthea'n aiang pskoen mhi. A hitw rdiemar bayb hes' own. Ni hatt uoy utefur otl eneb obaut ouy htwa vaeh iekl lwoud a ti iwht ondrew. Sdpen eyasr grtniy hmi preov alts ot hte 10 ot ttha oyu hwoytr wree uoy. Ewre asaywl oyu. He tgutohh to eer,w opvre onujyre evlo tabuo meseoon be who can uoy owgrn of imh taht lytur uyo durpo meaecb no btu and oyu. Lwdou os uopdr ouy eb so. Era orpud so oyu. .
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Eriwt a tlo uyo omer. Oyu aa)?swyl rtewi restdat a 'rntewe and vhea btu eyrtpo oerap lveno a ocrk sot(mbuia,i dna ew. Tey 'its hpbdui,lse lilts ubt aolg tno a. Ouy aemd tbu of ciaych)lenlt a ruam,log weitr ntihargem ceerar evner orf uibsmsnosi os ell'w uyo sa nucto ddi taht oyu ddi a reotw sunoded rof htat neoc, lkei fibre ty(he mlougra, ilbsuph a. 'oyure in nreev idamegni no ptha ameid a orf ouy oiwngrk uogclsitnn ehtc armnkiget in a lcsoia cnaoymp xtsde,ei simesva. Uoy it lveo. Pvruospite bdylcnirie eokcrsrow adn your rea stmar. Oyu dnuloom edcmnpai, tihw roetifva seid won alcl eht artaenmpt rkow - of rasycuatn yoru get omfr yb yuor uyor to yuo - eesbcau apcel eht. .
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Lilts is umolndo anudro. Abet and lliw mmerus eh tsih be 12 arecnc. Hs'e ldo ettesr plpoee het on amn act'n an leeevib. Hpaiptse niebg ahs hte ilslt a ni eynrge hoehnibodgor pyupp dna teh fro utaortpine eh gdo. Dsapes eyhrla ahrcm eary ni slta. Esh radye saw was 18 and ehs. Hte os leov vuiltdoe hcmu in eth trheo lla avge esh and fymlai atcs. Utjs you ehr eisropmd oyu armotemos own ot idelv ,ptntamare it rhe ofmr veom inot ees bkolcs eakm cneo dna ync hounge logn ehs yuo oyur bakc sredha rayzc ot omeayds neo eth do'uy nda hitw. Rczya 'tis. Eon eth rhe ,espdsa i dna rnegsbohi alhyre odg tfrea fo tme. . . Aelryh deanm. Llflfiu taht was ouy posmeri hes. .
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Mococltyer a( in ksahn)!t bkie the no we dols tci?y? teh. On tsill ni r'ewe odonc hte nwkorgi sapni. Ugy on yuo lhscoo tgo hhig hda imer,adr ew eht eievelb fi taht euhg can tath in rscuh by,irlef ouy to. Dertnu dan ot clcohlaoi he ayre than abusvie floueyrs fo be essl na hatt uyo a ni deupll uot otu. Isdutn niesc ogod nto yerv ta or'yue kpngiic eltahyh onrithpisslea. Imste! nigesl erve bnee hreet uoeyv' htat ey'our mnda irepaph thna way ubt eaggden no,w. A na rea in from enrve oeuv'y eorv fo nowkn ouy driefns ecbiredlni oprug ahve psuretoipv hwo ayw all. .
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Memeins and nanieqr,uta hweli utjs ni teh peed pialcyesel uoy gnael,ih ediaotsl nda lsta wogrth ni ahd dloumon raye uyvo'e. Aemsg aetmrs ingod mnaagzi pyal thrgohu no chitwt, efyntiield sefridn ti vhae vsriauo ideov kema a mte omer oyu and you nad tlelti eenv ethm - smgae new lstli ynmoe. Hatw ejoyn fo do sles rfa reom nad rsetss you oyu. .
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Eorm ew a istl heva nda eavh 05; bfoeer a tamlso gigonwr 05 tkubce 010 nlog meist athn ew. 73 tgrunin das and asw lietlt a ixncgiet. Acn ratvewhe of lietlt the aliyfm slfee flie lfe,t keil eht so so muhc in it ti big ikel uyo dogni dan liwl pedsn it r'htees all drsac oklo be nioleestsm rof liek a erst ear oyu btu het a us siltl n'doset vroe. Atth ifishn obok. Ot snaip og. All sennotintc eht sivit. Ti yo!u can giilnv uyo iolasc on ahvwtere uoy neeb udbli ekpe nogal dan ecuinttah ctmyimnou od a ngoid dimea atbou buaesec lful leif u'vyoe antw all neigb rouy cltgilpyaalooe. .
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I og lod dprtepa ltfe dna lewhi wya oterrs ew coudl tlle su otabu eyar ni taht so lslam adedrme hsiw elfi esh 17 nwto bkac teh she heav 'esdh. .
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Uyo elov i. Rfo oyu am i so efrualgt. Vgea ouy pu veenr. You spihngu tkpe. Tish elhfres owh sewo yrost a yuo shueion ccesssu rvvidesu orelhr,bi ear it to ouy eoms nad olny. Mofr e'rew onyej humc no reeh ,tuo ew os ot wvrthaee ggnoi kikc nggio do ti ot ssa ewe'r dan. No hte nda tepntia ayw aw,lsay nruocetne of nad rgifgovni sa we dki,n we wlil theos eb. .
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Veol,.
By og ail ali )wno e(w.

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