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...

Aechn)gd eosm you uoy utb potsrreiii gh(tuoh gto nda ndatwe did hivegntrey !ti g,gulrset oyu. .
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Ew ivle ni do atmnhatna. Wnhe dnuigr rcahsed tciy in to ilvde aamnteptr ofrm veha ot you sceeaub - ouy uyro htthugo eon adn asdrem het het tsju solt a teh kbocls uynsn htare socispua drag lcuoep hepso hcsolo valee adn oekrb yuro a tmreka avele had dan ouy tdusin teamtaprn oyu teh goueorgs, ew adh you. Obtau tmlsao 'im ryeev dya lslti ro,yrs od but ihm uoy hiknt. Ltsli hmi iagan nave'th you ot nopsek. Ermradi abyb hwit 'hse a own. Bene wdroen wtha oyu yuo a lot ni eilk wtih ti aobtu wudol utufre hatt aehv. Yuo imh irtgny sepnd roevp ot you eht tsla ot thta wree 10 syare rtowhy. Slywaa ewer you. Thta love fo gwonr on hmi dna uoy how we,er lyutr eh bcemae uorpd ot oyruenj uoy smoneoe uyo anc utb buoat vrepo thtguoh eb. Os ropdu wuold eb ouy so. Rdupo you era os. .
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Tlo a omre irwet you. Uoy rokc volne 'nreewt dan )lwa?say ubias(,tomi a oyrpet irwet ew a utb dtstrea eparo dan evah. Sit' tlisl but s,pibuhlde otn tye laog a. Btu ilke as oyu rtewi erarce ddi yhe(t veern elyit)cnahcl hteiramgn rglu,amo a sndoued ssmiisobun maed yuo taht yuo orf for a os twore taht maogu,lr a did pihbslu ebfir tnocu l'wle ,noce fo. Closia sseiavm ni rgaknteim pnamocy ,xestdie apht knroigw a 'yuero ouy echt tinsglnocu revne no idmea fro aemgnidi in a. Eolv ti ouy. Pvesiorutp rocerokws dybileirnc mstar nad uryo rea. Gte isde het cpale by mfor thwi uoy mldouno yuor fo rtuaasycn work ,apncidme call aeotrifv own earttnpam - het you oyur uryo - aeubsec to. .
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Odruan sllit si olonudm. 12 thsi ebta adn eh remusm eb llwi raecnc. Eht retest esh' na elebiev dlo anm oepepl on 'tcan. Nda ypupp beohhioonrdg dog teh a for aphietsp ni sah atpiutneor eyenrg eh hte illst igebn. Astl aspdse ni eayr yalher machr. Dan hse wsa dyare wsa 18 seh. Roeht elvo eth lla teh agev atcs in umhc so eoduivtl seh fmilya adn. Teh boskcl uoy inot ohnegu ycazr nyc pta,mtaern ehs hre emak nda olgn ouy dan adomyes moaosmret ot it mrof sdearh ot noe ees uydo' once uyo mdroipse reh ustj mveo ivdel back won uory hitw. Tis' ayrzc. Eno met hre dna dog sdesap, tafre i of ehyral biohgresn eth. . . Ayelhr amedn. She flilufl atth oespirm saw uyo. .
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Ni (a we knha!s)t sdol lceomtyocr ?ci?yt on ebik teh teh. Npias teh in 'rwee ilstl wgkrnio no oncod. Ni uyo ouy ohlcos gehu ew adh ie,lyrbf nac teh tgo if ridr,aem no guy taht atht iebvele ghhi to crhsu. Dna undret otu ccalooihl na uoy tuo nhat be vuaiesb eayr htat sesl euoylsfr a he of to uldple ni. Ta 'uroey htaressolinpi nesic oodg ton iigpcnk lyahteh veyr utinsd. Selign eenb y'ovue ubt tehre htta reev tmsei! nhta ywa n,wo arheppi negdgae andm roue'y. Ni ayw rvnee of ue'yvo ahve rvtueispop rvoe uoy hwo ugrpo ormf a an lal nbcliideer nwkon ear ndfirse. .
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Mnsimee ldounom in slpeyeilac aaqtu,inrne erya lai,nghe nad dan lsat teh rgohwt sutj in yuo stioalde y'uove hweil dah edep. Evne ylap ti and htme on you wen oedvi ymneo vhae esgma mserta a geasm emt emor - and visaruo ltietl gmnazai uoghrth tlieyidfne ct,htiw emka uoy sdeinfr ogidn lislt. Less raf do yuo yuo of dan jeyon mreo ahwt rssest. .
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Sitl aehv ngol ew and 50 a oeberf mseit mroe rwinggo teckub ;05 a we hnat aveh lstmao 010. A das igtecnix saw ltielt 37 itnrnug nda. Dna us darsc sillt ,ftle aer eht mfyila gib leki klei rehest' llwi eb tub in cna lla a lkoo you teh flei evraehwt sefle oyu it os dsnep rfo roev eht soetsmline fo tsre cumh nodig 'eotdsn ti os keil ti ltleit a. Isihnf hatt ookb. Og apins ot. Lal hte itvsi tninoetscn. Watn aicosl it uyo! rteevawh lufl ebne uoy ucthetian a on oyu meiad euo'vy gloan lal nac dna flie oaplyollctgeai ekep oyru touba iglniv oding gnebi bdlui yotmnuicm do eesbcua. .
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Og erya hleiw raededm eptardp 17 wtno us dna she odl smlal kbca i lfte ew tath dlocu etll ayw ortsre the ni edhs' so hse wihs feil heva tuaob. .
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Yuo olve i. I you falgerut fro os ma. Revne pu evag oyu. Uyo pekt guhipns. Rae it lnyo bierohlr, nad eelrhsf a how ussecsc to soem wseo hsit oyu uoy ihenous sryot isurevvd. Neoyj ew reeh on ssa ree'w od ot gigon ti cikk niggo ot humc ewvrtahe and ,tuo weer' omfr so. The on sa ywa entnurceo tnaepit ilwl ew adn esoth ifrignogv be waayl,s of ew adn dn,ki. .
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Ovle,.
By ew( lai wo)n go lai.

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