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...

Utb tgo trggusle, !ti acde)hng tendaw uyo gyeritvehn oh(tghu dna you idd uoy esmo irtipeiors. .
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Lvei aathanmtn ew in od. Trmeak whne unyns and aleev leave eht - lcopeu we uoy hda to ouy ohpes vledi apremnatt eht sacedhr a ujst segu,oogr oyu oyu nda oyu a mofr icyt teh dna indurg hda uyro argd eon to besueac arhte coohls haev tlos ni the oryu dreams skobcl bokre pettramna nuistd utoghth socispua. Imh oyu yda aobtu itsll rrso,y but stmoal i'm do rveye nhitk. Ahtvn'e tilsl ot agian keonps mih uoy. A hiwt riaedrm yabb 'she own. Yuo evah ahtw uutfre you a lot ikle uwldo toaub htta ti enbe donrew hiwt ni. Yngtri ouy to eewr seayr het vopre ot tywohr you 10 imh lsta npdes hatt. Ywasal erwe you. Acn he hatt mih eewr, orpev dan yuo to uprod on ejuonyr how eolv be fo yuo utoba noemsoe wgorn ogtthhu bmceea tbu you ryutl. Uodwl you so rpodu be so. So ear odrpu you. .
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A otl uyo omre eiwrt. Dtesrat rpetoy nda rwetne' )aswyal? we vahe btu uoy dna ewtri a lnove crko ,ia(boiutsm a eraop. Hsbdlupei, yet ist' tlsli algo tbu ton a. For oalru,gm nmiuobsiss a thy(e mrgnheati a so btu uyo a dosnedu nlt)ylahiecc aromu,gl rreeac atht eamd you bfier ellw' tath uslbhpi ,neco did ofr ielk ntouc rwtei yuo rowet as fo idd revne. Oycmanp rnvee txiseed, tgulncinso rnwgoik ahtp aediignm uoy ni hcet u'yoer aolisc a a ni smivaes fro igrekanmt no emiad. Vleo ti uoy. Cokreoswr era ircenlbydi dan uyor smrta supepitvor. Fo ryou you - lcal wno iwht nodmluo mtpetaran okwr ,aceipndm elcap to uyo by uyor het uoyr cyranasut ised teoiravf ebucesa mfro teh get -. .
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Odmonlu illts nrouad is. Lliw eh 21 ummres acnecr dan beta hits eb. 'atnc an on teh vebiele e'hs old oeeppl sertte nma. Ppupy for he the tappihse het ibhdongeoorh a dan enbgi hsa in sllit gnryee god tnruiatpoe. Eyar macrh arelyh saepsd ni salt. Saw asw 81 yeard dna she hes. Seh vgea lla hcmu the so teh toerh adn acts ilodetuv fyiaml in vole. Reodpmis oyu jstu yuo make ognl p,rmtetana her rahesd hoegnu toin ithw now mofr seh veild ouy ayzcr yuor vmeo it oen to to odyu' ehr akcb ync nad nad ysdmaoe nceo eth osemarmto clbsok see. Yaczr 'its. Reh noe tme esdps,a ehlray efrta nad i the eniorghsb ogd fo. . . Aeyhlr denam. Ouy was esh taht llifluf psreiom. .
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Ccmtoeryol we ns)kt!ha iekb eth on yict?? sold in het (a. Ni on coodn sllit spina eht erw'e owgnrik. Uoy acn veibele if htta thta ew ohclos ot hgih on gueh hurcs dha yirlefb, ogt yuo drma,rie hte in yug. Unetrd tath eh in atnh ot ssel a tuo oacholilc yuo an fo edulpl be dna eyar uot esyofulr svbiaue. Ta odog ton dnsuit heatlhy incse inlhitsposear revy pnciigk y'uero. Nadm ywa vere but ereth y'erou ttha lnsgie tnha ephapir gegaedn ismt!e 'uyoev o,nw nbee. Vahe oyu've omfr of ppouietvsr rae fdeisnr pgour you an awy nnkwo venre a ni all woh biclnirede vore. .
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Sotliade in ,enlaghi uvyeo' sutj doolnum had in yrae pede ihlwe ,iqaeruntna stla het htworg eesmnim dna you dna yeplalscie. Iiyfeelndt mzaniag eevn kame - a ,tchitw dna new tme nyeom rtghuho nad ruvaois ivdoe ylap goind ti astmer eahv etitll you desrfni no smaeg lislt gamse tehm ouy emro. You far rmoe of sesl do dan yojen ouy sestrs awht. .
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A vaeh efebro ew nath dan vhea 001 50 ;05 we asmlot a imets ilst wgirgno lngo roem uetkbc. Tngnuri 37 a itletl nad saw ads xngictie. It it you mchu etewharv ni rest ngiod btu eb are the ltef, us nac loko adn you tllsi of eikl telilt rfo gib ehrset' eslef lliw lal the a cadsr psend it het elfi tieonssmle liek oerv eds'not a ymafli iekl so so. Boko atht nishif. Go to nsaip. All ivist nctesinnot hte. Ecbesau umcyotmin nlgao eekp cna lisoca flul btuoa anwt do y'evou ti dlibu you yuro a nebig daiem ttachiuen yo!u nda fiel no goidn vgnlii lal ebne uoy ipoolglaceatly wehevrat. .
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Ew go deearmd dulco vhea esh us lamsl i dehs' pdrptae os nda flte wtno seotrr tlel elihw ilef 17 ryae atth awy ouatb whis seh cakb hte lod in. .
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Eolv uyo i. For rtgaflue i uoy so ma. You up vener veag. Oyu pkte ngiupsh. Owh htsi rysot lyon you ti to susccse eoms a hebrro,il weos viursdve dan ieshonu ear erfshle yuo. Ehre hmcu dan kcik ew ggnoi no so ot ti ehwetvar to ssa frmo ewer' do ogign eynjo uto, w'ree. Hetso inkd, we ew ggnvirofi nnreetcuo sa het l,ysaaw fo nda tiepnta eb wya and lwli no. .
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,levo.
Ial og yb ail (ew won).

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