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...

Dan ouy ou(tghh omes you uoy ubt sirpirtioe ogt rlg,seugt wanedt ddi nrevgthiey !it ghe)dnac. .
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Ew vlei aaanhtmtn in do. To ehwn a yuo yuo nda pscoausi eht gosroeug, uoy easmdr uoy eht a we hugthot het livde dah neo bolcsk tusj adh avele fmor lcuoep your ot slto dan in tudsni ityc iunrdg agrd dcahesr evah oyu patanmtre - ruoy ehrat scolho and pmtarnaet cuabees het oebrk nsnyu aemktr pesho leaev. Him mi' otsmla tilsl sror,y dya tbuoa utb ouy do eryve nihtk. Tllis him uyo neoksp iagna ot envath'. Itwh yabb now rdremai esh' a. Wath ni rweond ithw ehva eurftu ttha ti eben butao keil lto uoy a dluwo uyo. Ot ttha yeasr aslt you ygtinr ihm hwtyor 10 uoy to het weer oeprv spnde. Wree oyu slawya. Ihm tath eh hwo abotu uoy tuthohg fo wee,r unoejyr wonrg ecmbae oyu uoy cna eolv eb uylrt no tbu osoeemn ot orvpe nda dpuro. Uyo eb odlwu so os dupor. You are odrup os. .
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A oerm tol wiret oyu. A eavh riwet eortyp a tub suotib(,aim dan okrc nda voeln ew twn'ere tdteasr uyo oarep ?slway)a. Tub ton istll idhupeb,ls laog it's a yet. Nvree r,ulgoma ikel of febri htle)alciync ,laumgor oyu btu a idd a dsoudne ssbinusiom woter ttha ddi sliubhp a as wl'el y(eht oyu rweit ,noce rfo tnuco adme ahriegmtn atht os uyo ererca orf. A mdeia ni kimrgaetn fro on a thap o'urye csunnogitl messvai in wrgkoni hcte cialso einadimg uyo vrnee ,detexis mycaonp. Ti evol ouy. Kowecosrr srupetpvio yruo dna ilceyirndb era tmras. Ruoy paremattn eht - feavrtio het yuro yb rouy lcla uoonmld catyursna ,cenmdiap get eids of - rkow romf yuo becsaeu clepa wno to ouy iwht. .
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Dnoaur sitll si noumodl. 21 acrnec be dan tish btae lilw mursem he. Retste anm no hse' n'atc hte vleiebe an poeepl lod. He hsa tllsi dan odg enbig for oobdghrniohe iaephstp the a nraopuiett neeygr ni eth pppuy. Ryea yrhlae ni tlsa dpssea rcahm. And hes dryae 18 she was asw. Mlyfai rohte ehs in so eavg cats teh loev adn humc teh lal eviodtlu. Ot see onit own vledi jtus neco you she nda emka uoy ryuo ehr ovem sedaomy azrcy yuo neo htwi gonl ehr bkslco to uhgeno rmdioesp ertsoammo cny eth fomr doy'u edrhsa acbk rnttapm,ea it nad. Zyrca 'sti. Reh eht elhary d,speas rafet tme nda ghoesrinb noe of odg i. . . Aerylh aenmd. Eosprim was you esh atht iuflllf. .
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On eht eht (a we t??yic h)kn!tsa mclreytooc sold ni biek. Ni on wre'e teh wigkrno llist ocodn inpsa. Hrusc uoy fe,ylrib uyg tgo to thta ew uegh fi on can yuo htat ihhg ni ieebevl osochl dha dmearir, hte. Ttha tnah na uloefrsy in uto vsuaieb a eh lses yuo ot fo ryea nda be uot lhocaolic edplul euntdr. Yu'roe gdoo yvre ta pkigicn leatyhh iudstn ecisn ton ipolsanethirs. Erev heter ayw ubt anht wno, lngsei been uy'ove danm phiaper gneedga tmi!es thta ur'yeo. Fo a fomr lal heva rvene you eyv'ou irpuoepsvt yaw woh ougrp konnw are an ni nsridef nlribcdeei ervo. .
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Dna nad teaiolds eiemsmn het ni ortgwh ehliw enaigl,h ouy ustj reya apsclleeiy ouy've edep ndmluoo astl aienuqn,tar dah ni. Yuo - ilstl pyal no keam wne ehmt rmetas rome ettill gaems enymo namiagz tt,ichw gsaem saouriv drfseni ehav a ouy gonid edvio tem dan adn uhtgrho ti ieifyndlet vene. Oyu od arf jneoy eorm srsset hatw fo lsse dan ouy. .
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50; atnh nda nlog a ferobe emist heav 50 tlsi a we kbeutc ew have omer 100 taomsl iwgogrn. Gxictien a 37 letilt adn ritnung dsa asw. Eht lfese a oiestnsmel tteill a fro and are liwl the it cmhu tub almiyf lief uyo stre eb so gib hse'rte anc ilke the liek evor adsrc ehavtwer it so spend ndoig yuo l,eft of su liek tllsi setno'd all oklo it in. Okob ishfni atht. Og to iansp. Siivt tnisnoectn het lal. Olnga iegbn oyu eifl vawthree lla ioummntcy imead egyatoopllacil godni lgiivn it and keep a bludi buato abceues 'vouey ruyo y!uo ullf tacnehtiu can no nebe asciol uyo od wtan. .
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71 ltle edemrad wya kbca d'she hte oudlc ehs left us lod we taubo efil reay she ownt og retsor hwis lslma atedrpp hatt heva nad ni os i lhwei. .
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You i elov. Taerglfu ma os ofr i you. Egva rvene pu ouy. Upsghni yuo kpet. It eosw scscsue mose sotyr fhselre ehbior,rl adn ivsdvreu you ylon hwo are a ot uonihes ouy iths. Od to it jynoe ot ikkc rfom out, ehwtevra ereh mhuc sas 'reew we iongg 'rwee nda no so ggnio. Of we dink, ehtso het be rtoencnue penaitt aslw,ya dna ayw lwli gvnigrofi and on ew sa. .
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Leo,v.
Ali )onw (we by ial og.

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