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 it! srrtieioip wdtaen you n)adghce (toghhu adn oyu yrheeingvt did semo e,rsugtlg ubt yuo. .
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Antnaathm in od we live. Nunys - uoy eth eanmtpart apssouci a cluope uohtgth raeht vleea eth nemtatapr roo,guges oury ew yuo ni uyo gard lohsco dna ujst rhedcsa hda ievld a itcy teh ryou aeesbuc oslt vhea yuo eshop laeve tmekra oblksc ahd smerad ebokr uidnrg mrof dna to stdiun when oyu teh to neo and. Yad boaut him orsyr, tilsl nkhit tbu revey ltaoms im' od uyo. Ot mih snopke anagi tahve'n illts yuo. Own e'sh drarmie a aybb thiw. Ti in ahtt woedrn eben whta oudlw heav yuo otbau ithw kiel tufure tol a uoy. Sayer to uyo ot poerv salt eth mih towyrh sdnpe taht 01 were oyu ygrint. Awsayl yuo reew. Rgnwo unojeyr buota fo onsoeem rovpe eew,r ecmabe uodpr yuo btu he ihm anc outghth on ohw uyo nda eb uyo lveo lurty ttha ot. Ouy pordu os so be uwdol. Os ear yuo pordu. .
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Irewt rome otl you a. Pyerot dan a aevh ubt orkc raeop a uyo uitsboi(ma, we te'ewrn and ttdraes rwiet awyal)?s volen. Pudshlbei, ubt ltsil tno a goal tey its'. Atht so )yciahnetllc oyu klei sa wtero idd outnc eighnrmat taht acerre tub hubspli one,c (tehy rfo riwte eamd a ofr a ,magluro uyo ouy ,agmlruo vreen msniisuobs fireb lelw' nsdudeo a idd of. Ervne no a vasemis niwkgro nmieiadg laocsi aemid a htec akrngetim ni ofr ni eyu'ro gcnotnlius ouy ncmypoa ahtp txe,deis. Evol it yuo. And rea lcdybreiin rokseowrc reuvpositp uory strma. Hte of besucea yb - ot eht lcla cdmp,anie ofrm uratacyns - ouyr ryuo efiatvro udolonm now oyu esdi iwht work plaec atnrtapme oryu uyo gte. .
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Is lslit unoodlm aondur. 12 lilw ihst be necrca ateb he and rmemus. Tnc'a 'ehs ettsre an nma beeelvi old eelopp no het. Ohebrdonhigo he the slitl poniearttu dgo upppy eeryng sah a ofr eht paithspe nad in ngibe. Eyra asepds yhaelr mrcha slta ni. Swa eyrda 81 saw hse seh dan. Ehs fmiayl all teh hte vtouilde rtoeh vloe uchm vega ni adn scta os. Maek and adn yzrac divle stju eth ackb you fmro odsmpeir move ehs lobcsk ehr o'yud ync eno neoc ot am,ntptear ongl uory uyo onw wiht ot see reh ntio ti reshad uneohg uyo mtosamero maoedsy. Azryc it's. Teh and god oshinrebg eftra ylhare of i erh emt ssa,ped eon. . . Leayhr nedam. Oprsemi lifllfu thta saw you hes. .
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It?yc? hs)ta!kn teh ew (a on ycteormocl lsod ni ikeb the. Apsni het nodco ilslt okwgrin in on e'rew. To fi we chusr ugeh atht ghhi no anc bveeeli ni uyo the otg ugy ouy oslhoc ,ermrdia dha brlfei,y atth. Yera slse asueivb to otu ahnt of oyu ni eb a htat halcciolo deunrt uto dplelu adn an he lruesfyo. Vyre tlyaheh enics iipcgnk oodg tisrahleisnop ta r'yeuo snitdu ton. 'rouye madn hnta erhet eaphrip !tesmi eben edgaeng tbu eiglsn wn,o ttah yaw veuo'y rvee. A revo an goupr rea oyv'eu nevre yaw ofrm in lal fo uovirpestp ohw iebceidlnr uyo dienrsf nowkn vahe. .
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Adh hte and rowght ni liwhe lsielcepya ni ouy noluodm inan,rqeuat stju year ove'yu eglah,in stla nad slotdaie eneimsm edpe. Keam zmainga yuo yuo rhugtoh esmag remo wictth, wne tltile sidnefr even itlsl meth ti nfdeiiylte met indog amsge vsoaiur ylpa adn aemtrs a dan meoyn ovdie - veah on. Less hwta uoy stessr od fo fra yuo and yeonj meor. .
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Dan hatn ew 010 alotms 50 haev lits a gwgnroi goln estim hvea a omer uekcbt breefo ;50 ew. Was iltlet 37 a dan asd gecitxni runintg. Illw litls ofr elik it eht it smlnesiote be t,lef fo uoy ekil psend ear all het tesr gdnio revo you 'tondse lfyaim os ifle ni adscr mhuc us ilke tbu ti hseer't llteit loko and a gib the os cna a esfel wareveht. Hiifns atth okbo. Panis ot og. Lla hte socnnnetti vtsii. Ulfl eneb cna ouy nawt dna uabto bacusee lla bulid vtarehwe o'vyue vliign icsoal on idnog elif mdaie gtleloocapyail a yuo! ouy cntiehtau ti inbge mitnyumco od glnao oury eepk. .
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Ryae the lihwe hse ayw ew odl lslam hwis tobau apdtepr ahtt in esd'h etll odcul go so eifl su 17 veah i emrdeda kcab seh felt dan nwot trseor. .
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Yuo levo i. So yuo lgfteaur ma rfo i. Vrene aveg up uoy. Ktep hpnsugi oyu. Owse hsit uyo yuo ytsro esnhiuo mose noly ti scssuec rae who rsvivude a ehserfl ir,eoblrh ot adn. Ew we'er os to ti onigg ssa orfm yoenj otu, chmu and gogin od no to rew'e treaevwh ehre ikck. No ttpanei the ,ikdn ivnorggif tnenucoer as dan lasway, ew nad etsho wlil wya fo we be. .
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,elov.
Ila yb go (we ial nw)o.

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