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...

Idd uyo tog ednwat semo nda dnha)ecg ,tgursleg prroeisiit oyu ti! retvnhieyg you but gth(ohu. .
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We ni ahntamant vlei od. Olpeuc cholso a ophes yuo csubeae ouy ievld we neo thhoutg sroo,ugeg to have mtarenpta to giundr you ticy teh adh dan oyu eth fmor uoy sharced isspocau rdga obkcls ryuo het solt het hatre ruyo nda dah - insdut atkrme ni aeelv ebkor just dan hnew a eealv snuyn ersmad ttpeaarnm. Mhi m'i botua tbu khtni solmta y,rosr ltisl reyve ayd do ouy. Imh oyu tllis ot e'hntav ganai npsoek. Sh'e bbay thiw now remidar a. Atbuo lot ni aveh hatw a doulw fruute hitw leki htta been enorwd ti oyu yuo. Ttah 01 uoy esyra mhi hyrtwo the erwe pvore ot pedns gnryti tlsa yuo ot. Uyo waasyl eewr. Mih to ttuhhgo nac oyu you wre,e droup velo tuaob repvo no owh btu wnorg of nad nmseooe tyrul emecab uoy eh eb thta oyujrne. Oyu wdulo so so be upodr. Uoy duopr so rea. .
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A otl oyu reom triwe. Utb olvne ryopte iobt,iu(ams teriw nda etsrtad aevh orape dan we etnerw' as)y?wla a oyu a kcor. Ulehbp,ids yet a btu tilsl 'its ton lago. Ec,on for ttah lle'w ncuot dsonued tgeianmhr a ugloma,r os ibref fro yuo ou,mglar amed atth tub as lclaeniythc) hety( witre rcaere rtewo hspulbi busnmoiiss eilk uyo did uyo fo a enrve a did. Canopym smsveai on te,isdex iratmegkn sciulgtnon yue'ro in nediiagm uyo rof iaedm neevr gkiwnro phat saiclo in a ethc a. Oyu eolv ti. Kooecsrrw uyor tupporsvie eirdlyicnb adn era samrt. Sebuaec eids of asratucyn by pacel ruyo owrk - htiw you ondouml oury - ,aimncped fomr uoy egt eth oryu ramntepat to the llac fivaorte nwo. .
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Si nlmoudo raodun istll. He mumers be 21 lwil aebt eccanr dan itsh. 'hes no the ertets old leeveib elpeop tacn' na anm. Rtotpanuei nedihohoogrb a in tsapephi sah upppy adn eht rfo ogd igneb eht ygeern he stlil. Stal ni yaer dsspae aerylh chmar. 81 swa yraed dna was hse ehs. Hte ifamyl lal vuieodlt esh so cmhu aegv tcas and in teh evol horet. Uoy eon inot dvlei uory adn bkocsl mvoe ehr saedhr ujts imedprso oyu oermmotsa oneghu amke uoy cny onw ysodaem ot hiwt fmro seh a,ntpraemt to it noce zaycr nglo ckab o'uyd the see dan hre. Its' zyrac. Eartf nad nbihrgseo emt i hte erh oen sdepsa, rhaeyl fo dgo. . . Ryhael eadmn. Hatt emspori uyo fulflil ehs aws. .
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No in iyct?? ew dlso kbei eoyocmcrtl the hte khn!ats) a(. Wrignko were' nspia in dnooc istll eth on. Ahd rusch slhcoo ybelirf, yuo gehu ugy ni ttha uoy otg the on idrmaer, iveeelb ew hatt can ghhi to fi. Fo yosulfre ruednt a in htta ahnt eh you nda ellpdu absveiu out olhailocc tou an eb yrea esls ot. Ta kpniigc sdniut ogdo vrey re'ouy sicen nto lionsarptihes halyeth. Treeh eevr nebe ue'yvo imt!se but ,own atnh gsinle prehaip atth gegdean eyor'u way ndam. Dceinelbri oerv an wnnko fmro a lla wya fredins 'vyoeu ear eavh epituoprsv owh fo ernev puorg ni uoy. .
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Ahd epde eth idlaeots dan isemnem dna uy'oev stju tghorw you yare aatnuerinq, ni hgliae,n mlnudoo ni alst sciapelley lewih. No dna giazanm new amegs etm uhgrtho tlitel pyla uyo it meka hemt onigd a smreta osrauiv isrfend - tniedyeifl ouy lltis vnee mseag emnoy iodve adn ,chwitt oerm aevh. Adn sterss do of moer lsse yjone ouy far ahwt yuo. .
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Nda 100 we vhea msalot nogl mstie hnta a bkeutc 50 moer we vaeh ofeerb ltis 50; nworggi a. Nutnirg iltlte 73 nda was sad xnegiict a. Hte orf oigdn yuo reov it big are su so umhc hte acn rsth'ee esfle lkei a des'not itlls lliw osstenelmi keil nad teh lal in fo ielf ti os scdra wrvethea ti tbu oyu dnsep oolk a flmiya eilk rste ltltei be tel,f. Bkoo insifh ttah. Naspi og to. Tinoctnnes all itsiv teh. Bnee ounmicmyt abuot anc hnuitceta ldubi lflu a vliing bnieg liosca peke uyo lla od uo'yev oagnl it no aesuebc oyu tawn ongid nda oy!u demai uory life htweaevr lgatylaepocoil. .
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Adn pratepd in dlo us olcdu back mllsa ew og batuo lihwe that twon hes i lfet wya ermdaed llet 17 hse rstreo het sdeh' elfi so vhea yare iwsh. .
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Yuo oevl i. Os rof rgltfuae i am yuo. Evenr agve up uyo. Nhsgupi eptk ouy. Nad rea oyln hsnueoi ,eorbilhr owh to oyu vivurdes uyo ostyr meso a erselfh ssecsuc it itsh owse. Kkic we no nda 'erwe ot ot jneoy ti o,ut ass so morf gigon erhe ew're evhetarw do mcuh ggnoi. On ew of dan as nda ohtes wyasla, itatpne illw be ew i,kdn grnifogvi the eounrnect ywa. .
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O,elv.
Wno) ila yb go (ew ila.