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...

Se,gruglt atednw you tbu gho(uht eca)gdhn you hvtnegeyir tiroeirspi ddi tog smoe uoy nad t!i. .
.
Ew od aannatthm elvi ni. In nda teh dgar form casbeue hte dilve dha oryu tnrapmeat eon oyu atamrnpte vhea - poseh oklscb teh htuhtog evlea a otsl icty uoy adn ustj ouy adh gorge,ous sdmear a eth scoohl hrcesda ot upsacois orebk ouy yrou to usnyn dan ecuplo wenh uyo uringd taher we remtak eavel iutsdn. 'im do nthki aobut him yever laotms syr,ro yad slilt tub uyo. Nav'hte ot yuo iltls kospen ngaai mhi. Won rdriema a wtih s'he baby. Vaeh twha about lot in a uyo eben keli reodwn douwl hiwt ufuert ti yuo atht. That uyo rysae vrepo gtryni het 01 ot weer nsepd to stla yuo wrytho mhi. Oyu rewe awalys. He yuo urejoyn ubt dan nca uoy woh urodp eewr, evorp eabmce guthoht oyu of tyurl no atht tuoab eb voel to him rwgon esoeomn. Duwlo uoy so eb os uodpr. Uyo rea druop so. .
.
Riewt a roem lto you. Nwerte' dna vaeh okrc teiwr aeopr btu la)wyas? m,usaob(iit etryop nda lenov we trtdeas a a uyo. Utb a otn goal pd,uibeslh t'is tye ltsil. Did ahtt uoy noddesu ttah yet(h fo a revne fireb a mroa,lug amehngtir lisbhpu dmae rfo oyu yuo ielk a,murgol nlctacly)ehi oterw ddi os irtew ,neoc as a rof uotcn ubt eearcr lle'w sbimuoinss. Erenv uoy on daeim in tidees,x smseavi rof ptha idmnagei htce scioal yeuor' rmkgenati nwkgiro ultcngiosn ni a yacpnom a. Oyu ti olve. Dna ecowrrkos eidrlicnby trasm poirespuvt ryou aer. Fo uoy het - oryu oldmoun uoy eth by orkw isde - yrou usatncray aeclp rtpeatmna egt allc to ofrm oruy nedaim,cp csbeeua thiw nwo rifavote. .
.
Ulmndoo lstil nuaodr is. Mserum taeb nad illw eb crnace isth eh 21. Teh ilveebe on ldo man pepeol tteres 'she an n'tca. A hte gboihohderno he in llits rgneye orf eht dan gebni nputtoiare dog apisphte sha pypup. Tasl ni mhacr yrae pseasd ryealh. Seh saw eayrd asw 18 she nda. Geav ni ohret het tsac lal esh oevl eth uchm nad tuldoevi iylamf os. Iwht yuo frmo to hse acbk otin cny ti her eno csklbo ceno yuo dan emov ese usjt lgno eht uehgon evdli uyo teoaomsmr ratan,metp own ycrza erh 'yduo desahr oruy oeydasm mkea adn to iromspde. Cyzar si't. Nda het eno hre ftare i eyrlha ogd tme ed,assp of bhnegosir. . . Ndmae rahlye. Esh htat oyu liullff imoesrp was. .
.
Ew on in mlyoorctce kas!)tnh hte lsdo eth biek ?y?itc (a. Ndcoo slilt teh nirogwk sipan ree'w in no. Hocsol if tath ni we eht tog l,fyebir ihhg on nac ebivele yuo ygu uoy ttha dah rhucs ot gheu r,emidra. Ttah yuesorfl dtneur nda ssle a eb an eh in uot erya uldepl ohaciclol ot vbaseui of hnat uoy tou. Ogdo at dsnitu arlhsitpnsioe pnikcgi nto csine tyalhhe ro'uey vrey. !itmes esling ahtn now, eevr rehte damn 'yeovu tbu tath eenb ro'euy heprpai aedeggn way. Woh lla omfr over evenr a an of way nowkn ni nfresid haev puogr ear irepspvtuo cndblieier ouy e'vuyo. .
.
Edpe stoidlea towhrg eayr in ujst nigeha,l tlsa miesnme uyo sleplecyia adn uo'eyv mulndoo dna hte ahd aar,tnenuqi ewihl in. Ltlsi itlelt nwe ehav ittc,hw srvoaui kame omer games uyo mhet veen thohgru - mnyoe asmtre iodng dieov lpay yintildefe dan a emt nimaagz diresnf no adn it gesma yuo. Do fra sesl joeyn thwa dna oyu fo omer uyo ressts. .
.
A gnlo a ntah kbtceu oeberf and 5;0 semit mroe vahe we avhe samotl ew 001 50 iwgrogn stli. 37 swa nad genctixi niutgrn dsa ttiell a. Odgni eb oyu ti sltli drsac a lal lkie mlaify rof selfe klei fo esndp eht lfie ,tlef nad ni yuo mcuh a ster so ti vreo ilwl eth kolo 'tneods osneestmil us big keli ti ubt hvteawer teitll os rae h'teesr eht can. Hinsfi kobo hatt. Saipn ot go. Tnneonscit lal teh tviis. Lal uebcaes do ti yuo nac tboau vu'oye mituocmny niethcuta godni etrvwhae ibgne gylllocpitaeoa csiaol elif ngaol ilgniv and you lflu bliud aiemd a twna y!uo been epek uory on. .
.
Pardetp rreost we ehs 71 tlef eth in edh's eamrded i hwis ielwh thta and oldcu yera hes dlo so eltl atobu awy go lsalm feli akcb us nowt aehv. .
.
Ouy velo i. Oyu am i os fro tlagfure. Ouy pu gvae vnere. Ekpt gsuhipn oyu. A ot adn otsry uoy oyln sdivveru csussec sith ehousin iroel,hrb some yuo rae ewso resehlf who it. On ssa 'rewe ti 'eerw we ot nggio to,u rfmo hree ucmh and njeoy to od weratvhe cikk gongi so. We theos k,dni ew nad fo alwa,sy tantepi hte counetern as eb way nad inigvgfor lilw on. .
.
Voel,.
Ail og e(w yb ila n)wo.