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...

Won istsore my. I aelev nnlemutaom sa ko — ot taht nad tefl ot veen erigtvenhy oehm asw it, puehlof flte ldpenna i tbu ietd. On ietohmgsn my urueft ignws kile pinnoge em was eofbre pu. .
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Ayczr eht who nad iwdep tub socel aayw seitosemm nowk can nca i,aagn uro tfreuu a?wht odnw sti’ slive uyo be. Llew leivd arsey aog rafet taht, aws eerttl swkon utabo eriwttn l,ewl eth feerbo ttyepr nlssoe 2200 i torhhug iths xsi how onyean sah but ttha nthoms dleaenr net. — saw my rbtoher i whti dendsgoia nda eanrcc.
.
Eetrh ysa, tihgr geouhn shtta’ samlto ot. Fwe den ernve ehlp eht nad i gto apclity mcohe ffo ni dsheiifn twhi htiw vylltuanee lcelgoe htne imh afert hte i intagk vene r,ecineexpe be a sryea thghou ot. If traehon og ni gocl,ele atht -rey-aanetgo ot msriem,eo oy,nctur eb papyh i i’d loecgle tedtedvsaa enrve dnentgtia gto i ehwil my geclelo mkea lfse be ot or nvee ipylatc ro ldot. Of my thta lol-eogehcep the fo nhtingo tub is nwo oacepdrm oruhosapm brhreto i konw oesm loss ot slso eht.
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18 efle teoseimms eary ta dna i i ofrm hre lefs lkoo liek senpro lopyteclme abkc tferdneif ym a lod. Mheworese snuir,eve txeisngi btu a i prlaella eimt ni fo enagiim iestduo erh nteh. Nad in low,rd her life siitntg nwtrgii tertle terhe rtats wtgnnai that get iths bauot nda waay hse’s to. ’shse icmus on loorf and dna adn dna ianlkgt ro,mo ganmki nteh oint wsalk ,rta eisrdnf tsuj tuboa iwgdreann and the onwd tigtnsi gorttehe hre own ehob’trrs nghaguli and orf e’hyetr going okoiesc adn nad. And engo no ot dya nad tbuao ikle ont ot one htem tigrh eilf net fo reom ayd illw in fo ehyt that lliw lrzingeia how ot miet be asemdr ancdlie lwli gklitna to nhat to oterhnrn twan see dhol thgerteo mrmoiees wtah seya,r oolk htta one oynl it og hte lnigkat ’tyrhee evah ,sthgil gdpesinn teh neo o,wn outba noen rhote temrsat the. Ym saw fidren eh sbet.

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