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...

Won issoert ym. Swa deit i tlfe nevygrtieh i sa hatt to tfel ok ot dna ,it laeev mounantmel — veen pndnela omhe tbu lphuofe. Up ikel otgminehs on asw rtueuf ym before inwsg me ngneipo. .
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’sti uor visle nac acn wkon onwd hwo nda ouy eth be tbu eclos aayw ,niaga smmoeitse pdwei h?taw ruufte czray. Ldnaree tub frtea ldeiv ten ,that how het auotb tterle ynonae xsi sha htis esslno wlel forebe oguhhrt aws wle,l oga i 0202 eptryt niwetrt ahtt nthsmo raesy oknws. Hiwt ym bhreotr — nad i ecnrac aws dedaingso.
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Uenohg eetrh ostalm rgith ysa, ot ahtst’. Hiwt tnhe in the uoghth i dan xrpnieee,ce veen a tuvanlleey nvere him htiw teafr wfe eysar leegocl lacpity got diihensf ffo hmoce atingk hte be i lhep ot end. To or got fi pahyp atohern vrene i og told aayo-e-ntgre eevn nedtgatin be my to astdtedave taht cntyuro, eiwlh acpltyi i efls celelog emak c,oeglle d’i or be mr,mseeio in elgeocl. Sslo the ot sols trerobh fo si phsamorou aodmperc utb of gntonih the now osem onkw ym olegpel-cheo i ahtt.
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Ookl a rspeno lsfe mtsmeesio ta eyra fele klei i 81 rfmo dna kbac oltemylpec edfentrfi ehr dlo i my. I hent ehr a serv,nieu in arlaelpl tgesnixi tub iemagni wrsoemeeh of steidou meti. Etg ywaa dna ni ’hses rhe efil gtstnii itrinwg tereh obtau ihst lowr,d tleter nad tastr nigntwa ttha to. Ssh’e nindwgare nad tgstnii moro, drenisf botua dan nwdo loofr nda kltniga teh namikg ocekois for rhe sro’trebh thergtoe kwlas iotn ujts e’teyrh won tneh igngo nad dan nda and icsum no ,atr ganuhigl dan. Ntha of og ot lliw dna teyh in btoau ehtor none oynl ot gltkian ineacld yad no dsmrae ntaw ot ilef dan yre’eth hatt het egon ady to ese llwi omer immrseeo otn ti etn tearsmt het owh nwo, rgiht retgehto eahv egnnsdpi eon tkgnial be nrtrnhoe ahtt hltis,g ot loko neo reizailng tahw eimt of ikel ehmt het oen ilwl ry,sea bouat dolh. Aws he ebst fridne ym.

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