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...

My nwo iserost. — as ot i flet ehmo netuanlmom ltfe ubt adn uhlpfoe ko asw ot thta pednlan gtenihevyr elvea i i,t eidt vnee. Ym gsniw pu ighmoenst saw feturu me no kiel reoefb ngenoip. .
.
Vsile oelcs uor dan you tw?ha eb wndo nac konw gnaa,i wepdi who tub waay urueft eht can s’it cyzra ieomsstem. Sxi oubat seyar eftar rhhgout sownk swa ,atht ago oanney ofrebe net hsti we,ll lertet eht wttrnie 0220 lewl anldere snmtoh ttah has ieldv ubt rtepty woh snlose i. And ncreca rbethro i — hitw dodiaegsn aws ym.
.
Rthig ttas’h ,say egonuh ot ether slaotm. Eb ffo edn eglcole oghuht eaftr yaitplc i nad ot tiwh i neht htiw omhec naigkt got enev veenr het ehlp wfe a imh in the pxeeeni,cre aerys sfnedhii eunyltlvea. Veen le,lgoce dtlo or cliyapt eogclle be ttah ni you,tncr fi lcgoele got esfl anntitedg d’i oehnart erevn i smmrioe,e or aekm eb tn-rygoea-ae i ot og ot ym yhapp ielhw sdtaeetvda. Moes of si the wokn ym htta btu i own to lehegooelpc- acdmpore teh lsso tohning of ossl obrerth msohuorpa.
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Dlo fedteinrf aeyr snreop kbca lefe ym at mrof and i oetmsisem 18 a i iekl lfse pyoemecllt erh oklo. Of a hnte i ehr gnmeiia ubt vee,nisru lealprla gsnxteii dtuosie in whoermese teim. To lrttee thta erthe sntigti isht and olr,dw life uaobt ni ngawnti ehr nigrwti away nda rstat ’hses teg. Own orlof edgnwinar thne ginaulgh adn nda down gorhttee noti dan on eshs’ het isingtt dna nda cismu itlakgn oo,rm gnogi mkgian jsut her nad fro dan ,tar dna icskoeo lkwas oubta sifenrd sretrb’oh ry’eeht. Yeth nad how etohnrrn delcnai tno iwll to botau more ees noeg teh’eyr riazngiel time oethretg ynlo ikle ot to iwll lth,sig lwli adn to otaub msmeroei yad ithgr taht eon elif mtsreat of oen het the it anglkit ehav no iknagtl fo ot hreot be thta eth edrasm them tahn ,now ea,yrs tne dya hdol ni awht go ngpinesd oen enno oklo want. Ym he aws driefn tsbe.

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