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ten years

By November 14, 2009Blog

I snapped a picture of my old passport photo sitting next to my new photo. A lot changes in ten years. I look at that guy with the bad highlights on the left and I feel like I hardly know him.

A lot happens in ten years.

I wrote songs and then I stopped writing songs and started writing books.

I experienced liturgy for the first time.

I started taking medication for my ADHD.

I landed an influential job and got fired from that influential job.

I got into debt and got out of debt.

I moved to Nashville from Northern Virginia.

I got drunk on several occasions.

I became a husband to my best friend and a father to the most amazing little man.

I met friends, lost touch with friends, failed friends, and had friends fail me.

I fought depression and anxiety and fear. I was codependent. I became confident.

I visited New York City, Los Angeles, Romania, Hungary, Great Britain, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

I became honest with myself, my family, and a few of my closest friends.

I lied. I manipulated.

I danced until 3 o’clock in the morning.

I stopped feeling guilty about dancing until 3 o’clock in the morning.

I loved, and I learned what it meant to be loved.

I reached out, retreated, and regained the faith to reach out again.

I voted for a Democrat for the first time and don’t regret it.

I cried with friends. I had fantastic conversations with strangers.

In the last ten years, I became me.

I wonder what the next ten years will bring.

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Matthew Paul Turner

Author Matthew Paul Turner

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Join the discussion 14 Comments

  • Beautiful. Thanks for sharing this summary of your messy journey.

  • Rand says:

    This is cool, I may steal your idea, since I just renewed my passport.

  • cindygraves says:

    If I knew you personally and not just through your blog and Twitter, I would probably say something like “Well, in the next 10 years your forehead will likely continue to take up more of your face. Your tweets will likely continue to tick some people off while others are laughing so hard they wet their pants. And the precious little son you have will likely prove to have a tad of his father’s smart mouth.” That’s what I would say (from personal experience, mind you) if we were friends. But I would never say these things to someone I didn’t know.

  • Yeah. isn’t it funny what can happen in ten years. good list, though. I am turning 50 next year and will probably sit down and do a real good review of what happened those last ten, just like you. My little girls turned in to young women. That will be the first thing to list.

    Well, it all adds up to a life full of grace.

  • JB says:

    So glad you’ve become you. Keep speaking out. We need your voice.

  • Leslie says:

    What a great idea. I think I need to do this. So much has changed in my life in the last 10 years. I am so thankful that I have changed for the better.

  • gitz says:

    I love the you that you’ve become, and am honored to be a part of the next 10 years with you and your family 🙂

    Do me a favor… dance til 3am for me sometime!

  • very cool to be this introspective and honest about it. i’m sure the next couple decades will be just as interesting a journey.

  • ttm says:

    I think the next ten years will bring more of you.

  • My son turned 10 this year and I looked back at the last decade.

    I think I’ve learned that it doesn’t get easier. Not just the parenting. Life. But it seems the rewards are more simplistic and enjoyable.

  • Jennifer says:

    I love your honesty. You have accomplished so much in 10 years with so much more to come – you should be very proud of yourself. Thank you for sharing your world with all of us.

  • Tam says:

    this made me cry.

  • Jan says:

    so glad at the healing work God has done in your life. thank you for sharing. how sweet to see the grace of God documented like that. maybe i’ll make my own list!