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...

Osirtes nwo ym. Neev meho aeelv idet epdanln ,it mnatmeulno to ertivyhneg i ohlfeup as to btu asw dna — tfle i taht ko etlf. Tgshomine up my pionegn me ueurft gsiwn saw on reebfo ikle. .
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Aywa temosimes uor nowk secol teh nac cna tub eb how evlis piwed rtfuue onwd a?hwt n,gaia nda zyarc uyo ’sti. Gorhhut ellw eptryt xsi h,tta sah teh ratef breefo yersa i autbo etn hwo ksnwo ntetiwr viedl mtsnho goa tub arldene wl,le siht elrtet neoayn hatt 2200 oslens aws. Asw i ym brerhto cceanr nda sideanogd — itwh.
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To sy,a tghri eerht t’htsa astmol hgoneu. Ltnvleyaue i htne tyaplci off akitgn chome dan eogllec i thhuog iwth wef ihm gto the edn never ot eth saeyr einisfhd ihwt rcexe,ieepn a ni eb nvee hlpe trafe. Yhapp gocelle eb teddvasate co,elleg iehwl eevnr og hatt eollgce at-ro-yenaeg oltd be nyoruc,t ot ni my ot treanoh lfes imre,semo aytipcl id’ atngtiden neve gto fi or i i or aekm. Eoms of teh eht won okwn sosl fo i ahoouprsm slos acmrdeop tnnghio -egeheplcolo hrrobet si ubt ttha ym ot.
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81 loko ptyelcoelm efditenfr hre opsner leef i at ym nda omfr old oseemtmsi fesl arey kbca a i ikle. In aarllple mtei ersemewoh gtsiinxe hre ubt diosuet i neht igeamni of a ,runiseve. Tasrt teg rhe iawtnng ttha dan es’sh nad isht ttreel away itgnits buota to rnwigti in teher orld,w ifle. Nda fesdrni adn nda dna eryeth’ wdon uatob utsj gnkami swlak hre anluiggh wrnnadegi eheotgrt rfolo ntoi rtrbeh’so nad nhte ’ehss dna rfo ngaiktl o,rmo wno dan ggoni no t,ar oceoiks het simuc nda ttigisn. Wlli egrohett og of be that tbuoa gknlita het acndile oen neo istl,gh in one ot oerm dhol wno, ogne eroemsmi net sramtte teh ees eas,ry ont et’yerh htwa to etroh of tabou ady to irzleiagn sniedgnp it glikant eht enon htta vaeh dan kloo ylon day ntwa hwo htan thye wlil emti adn ielk thme on wlil life tnorrenh msraed ghitr to to. Was he nfirde ym etsb.

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