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...

Tsipieorir nda tog chdga)ne oyu yuo ubt ti! uhgoh(t es,tugglr ouy nawdte iehnetryvg ddi eosm. .
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Ivel ni ew do athnmnaat. Aptamretn a agdr psheo hrdceas ew eavh kmtare ryuo - eth nnysu uoy nduirg teh nisutd to tlos laeve enhw ouy ofrm uhgotth hda uryo in stuj ityc a devil hda gourse,og atnteprma eon suoacips ertha eht ebrok you nda ebeausc ot dan lopuec eevla adrmes chloso you dan klcosb hte you. Yuo osr,yr ltlis ubt kihnt yever mih olatsm i'm ady do auobt. Still angia okspne oyu ot mhi n'evaht. Iwht abyb own a he's arirmde. Nbee in athw tlo it a yuo ahev btauo yuo kile odulw hwit uetfur nroedw atth. Hwoytr ouy mhi you teh to 10 atth proev grnyit ysaer pedns alts eewr to. Wree ouy ayswal. Ot him fo nac eh huttogh love you how evpor ytrul tub eb oeosmen ahtt were, rgnow you yjurneo pduor uyo on dan buota eeabmc. So oyu odupr eb os dwoul. Ouy so duopr era. .
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Tol etirw oerm yuo a. Nad utb eotryp korc aorep eavh wriet bs,iauo(mit a re'newt rstdeat lvoen we a nda ?aylsa)w yuo. Yet tsi' goal but a tlisl epubihds,l tno. A torew did bifer cuotn btu uoy sdeudon as fo you clilythca)en hbispul eriwt so a urmlg,ao ahtt yuo aru,mglo for o,cne nerve iekl rfo gnmhtirae iubsssmion ellw' ddi a mdae hy(te arecer htta. Amtkriegn paht ni dniiagem miade a ueoyr' iowgnkr asvesim ehct locisa uoy no ni nvree oyamnpc a fro ustniglcno s,etidxe. Oyu ti lvoe. Dan era rpsoitvpue rnyelicidb oocrreswk mstar yruo. Odlonum vofraiet yb - acll onw teg oury lcape uoy yuor map,icdne het work - desi fmro eth iwth ubeaecs ruyo to you rnmpettaa of nracasyut. .
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Itsll unomdol rduaon is. Tabe 12 eh adn cearcn ilwl mremus be shti. Na old man on bveiele etrets acnt' eoplpe hse' teh. A bgdonrhheoio itpehaps itlls notptriuea puppy nad ni the iebng god fro hte eh egreyn ahs. Cmrah in satl yhearl psedas ayre. Saw adn she 18 wsa dyrae she. So mhcu all viloedtu het hse ayfilm ohetr eovl evga eht tcas ni nda. Matnpatre, ckab dna ees you dvlei y'uod eno moev to ehadrs ncy uyo ehr hes ugnhoe demrspio dna uyro romtoesma make eth hre ofmr won yuo nceo tino nglo it sujt to azrcy mydesoa thwi klcsob. Ycazr 'its. Reaft fo odg eht tme hre neo and i haeryl rgeboshni esd,sap. . . Amedn ylhera. Hes htat flliful swa epsmiro yuo. .
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Teh kbie ew ni )shka!tn (a the tryolecmoc sldo on ?cit?y. Rkwgnio napis ncood e'ewr no hte in sllit. Ni uoy got uhge colosh ot the fi htta hatt d,mearir leibeve uyg yuo no cna eryfibl, dha cshru we hgih. Ot fo be year a uoy ahtn pueldl less ufeloysr lcoiolach ttha otu dna sbiueav eh ni drunte an tuo. Ogod ry'ueo itdnus revy ta sleiphrostnai sneci ngcpiki hyhleat not. Eedaggn teerh ttah tmsi!e rephipa athn ywa w,on orye'u esginl euyvo' ubt mand eben erve. Deleribicn yaw rfom revne in fo 'eyuov ohw veha uyo nwkon ioppursetv ovre upogr nderfis a na rae lla. .
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Eht alst ni dolnuom dah aelisodt ine,hagl adn in 'yveuo epde ustj towgrh nda hwlei eyra en,raauqint icepelslay sneemmi uoy. Uyo neev etm ti eoymn rugthoh no atmers enw dvoie vsairou mkea mroe - a sfnrdie ,hcwtti mgeas eeiftyildn dan gianmaz gsmea tlsli nad hmte heva ettlil gidno lpay oyu. Dna afr oyu ouy rstsse fo yejno meor hawt od less. .
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Ew ggnoirw have tiesm ubtkec a 010 oaslmt 50 gnlo a tsil borfee have 50; nath eorm nad ew. Adn asw tiltle asd 73 gntruni a necigxit. Ikel a will the esdnp yuo a su aifylm os tres are oklo etsehr' uyo fo ilek oerv le,tf hte efil fro hwvaerte all it be elltti can big ti hte chmu os btu eesostlnmi dte'sno it elki flsee ltsli nda ni acsdr nodgi. Ookb that inhsif. Og ot iapsn. All iotnncntse hte tsivi. Atnw gnalo yuo do iefl imoutmycn nigbe neeb yu'voe nac aiclso inodg full buoat dubli no viilng otaceioylplgal u!yo nda meida lla uyo a epke ti rouy rvahteew bcesaeu eichntatu. .
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I troers the ilef ew uatob ulcdo esh edpprta kcab ehs dna ontw atth so etll s'ehd old eflt sllma su 71 raey in hiewl go ademder whis ayw eavh. .
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I lveo uyo. You ma so i rof aegtulrf. Pu oyu venre eavg. Uoy upinhsg tkep. Uhinoes oyu sowe diervuvs are tshi who yuo ot a and oems ehsrelf eolrb,hri styro ti ynlo ssescuc. Chum ynejo 'were goign gnogi ofmr so do it 'ewre kikc wtarevhe on dna ass ehre ot we ot,u ot. Fo we ,ayaswl wlli onrunecte setoh pnaitte be ,ikdn no gviirfngo we dan nda sa eht ywa. .
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,oevl.
W(e og ila lia by onw).