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...

Tedwna a)ncdheg seom ddi !ti tghoh(u yuo otg you adn terigehynv iitoprirse oyu l,gtesurg tub. .
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Ni vile do ew athaantnm. A tjus - ryuo hte a clepou rdaems rmfo ,urosggoe eno htoghut uyo and nad udgrni ltos lcoohs gdar had you asuiocsp hte nehw ptaaenrtm to cbuaese ouy manpartet lediv evale lveea erbok rtakem oephs oyur tdnsiu cradhse adh to eth treah oclksb vaeh uoy ouy in dna we nsyun eht icyt. Yad od tinhk eeyvr mih ouy yo,srr msaotl llist tub utoab 'im. Uoy mhi agnai listl tevanh' knospe ot. Airdmre nwo a bbay hiwt she'. Ti ehva ouy leik teurfu lto noedrw thta ni a tbaou bene ihtw hatw ulwdo you. Hmi nrgyti yuo hatt teh 01 ohrywt dnpse tsal ot to eropv weer ouy rsyae. Reew oyu sylwaa. Oervp of rpudo adn moeeons btu on mhi ,wree can thta oatub you you who eb oenryuj eambec rutyl wrngo yuo vloe otuhhtg to eh. So eb uoy wolud dourp os. Oudpr so uoy aer. .
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Emro a otl wrtie you. Roape utb we olevn rwite uoy okcr estdrta a petory a y?waa)ls subtmaiio(, nad rtnwe'e vahe dna. Tno ilslt i'ts a agol yte tbu blhdupe,is. Oyu a outcn of arrcee a ervne amed mu,oglra ofr tub c,noe otewr a htat liuhbps did uyo iuiomssbns as ebrfi os rfo thta did weirt ouy rug,amlo lewl' yht(e imegarhtn hlcnclea)tyi deousnd kiel. Oacypnm inmetakrg htpa gnntuosicl nrvee in a salioc es,dtxei a thec oyu orf erou'y in edaim on inigamde kgrnoiw smveasi. Elvo it uoy. Yuor dan ear lirdeycbin ocekrrows epouvitpsr ramts. Rofm stacanryu egt - ivorftea ryuo eaplc eids mtnaetrap orkw now fo you ,iapmdcen teh bsaeeuc domlonu yoru the ouy oyru acll - ot whit yb. .
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Odmlnuo adruno is itlsl. Lwil iths abte be nad rmeusm he 21 arcenc. S'he iebelve eth man on odl etsret an eopepl t'cna. A lstil eh iatpentour iespapht sha eergyn ni ypppu orf ogriehndoobh nibeg het nad eht dgo. In essadp ryae tlsa hrmac earhly. Saw hes and she saw 81 dryae. Ltiduove nda agve oelv lamfyi lal os hte umhc oehrt eth atsc seh in. Move rdmoespi azrcy to goln tmomseaor rmfo it dna iotn yuro see vilde to eakm ihtw hse redsah yuo now teant,mpra uyo ouy ujst hte nyc nouheg kosblc oen erh dy'ou nda ckba ceno dayomse reh. Rayzc ti's. Oen dgo after mte of hyaerl bsiegrnoh rhe and eht pse,ads i. . . Denam eahrly. She riesopm aws you llifflu tath. .
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We (a eht in slod teh biek ctyi?? yrelcoctom on tsa)!nhk. Kwginro e'wer no hte coond ipasn tisll ni. M,diarer nca dah htta hatt byfeirl, husrc we yuo to if tgo elbeeiv het you uehg guy ghih in colosh no. Of atth eh sueiavb uto a ssel hoolccail to you ahnt reya udepll in uto tudner na dan eb ufelysro. Eyhlaht rvey re'you nsudit soislnertihpa at oodg ipkcgin ont eicns. Reoy'u ayw heetr that dnam eenb oeyu'v elsgin btu dgnaege ehpraip vere hnta emtsi! wno,. Lla ni woh oyu dsfrien revne rpogu ildieebrnc a wya vpotiusper aer vyoe'u of oevr eavh wonkn na fomr. .
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Lsiceyepla uoy adn ni 'uyoev oumdlno tusj nad rqi,utaanen eped stal enisemm ogtwhr dah het arey l,agihen atidsoel wlihe in. Yifeilentd vene dan hetm measg rtmesa lsitl yuo emak fnrisde wctit,h haev mero ti no tme ariovsu etitll digon a eodiv esmga wne dna mnzgaia emnyo uohrgth - aply yuo. Less yuo jnyoe dan ermo do ouy ahtw far retsss of. .
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We mroe 0;5 omslat vhae adn a we ntha feerbo nolg nwrggoi 001 a etsim evah ektcbu 05 ltsi. Ntnurig a ingetxic lttlei das was adn 73. So so nad su flymai itsll ndgoi ti cuhm eilf igb fo lla teh s'tonde the ielk lkie lwli dspen klei be tle,f yuo kloo efsel ofr mlineesots nac erov a casdr are it hte ouy etitll hsrtee' a ubt rtes in hvweerta ti. Atth finihs koob. Ot inpas go. Eht tsiiv onstninetc lal. Nawt kepe lviing evawhetr ongdi on ti cbeseua acn atuob lla oyur ocolgtpalyeila nbee uyo iuaehttcn bildu life agoln ummctiony od lufl uoy neibg !oyu ilosca a vu'eyo maeid nad. .
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Telf os iwsh i wont rmedaed lsmal ehwli ywa ni ew eht dlo su papedtr 71 eltl kacb roters arey hse vaeh she dna uldoc go d'seh lfie abtou ahtt. .
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I yuo eolv. Urtafleg uyo i rof os ma. Nvree vega yuo up. Gnhpusi tepk you. Rhsleef weso tihs you ohw only uoy esom suidvrve lebrhir,o a it suineoh era styro cuesssc nda ot. Igogn hvterwae os od no dna cumh ti to we're hree ikck from ioggn we sas out, to e'rew ojeny. Tesoh sa,lawy fo nernoctue we nvoigigfr d,kni teh we be nad as ptaiten iwll on dna way. .
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Ovle,.
W(e ial ial won) og by.

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