We’ve reached the tail end of 2019, which also marks the close of a decade. That means instead of getting a year-in-review retrospective, you’re getting a decade in review, minus the boring bits.
All things considered, the past ten years have been a mixed bag. Witness the following accomplishments and events from the last decade, both good and bad.
Between 2010 and 2019
- launched a writing career, publishing six books, four plays, and four sacred scripts, all while amassing an avalanche of rejections
- started running, progressing from that first exciting 2-miler to 5k to 8k to 10k to half marathon to Ragnar Relay to this year’s full marathon (completed only after a short stint lying on my back crying at the top of a bridge)
- lost several toenails (see above)
- reunited with my best friend from middle school
- sneezed my gum out of my mouth
- survived multiple Atlantic hurricanes
- broke a tooth
- tried internet dating (I almost said “tried and failed” but if you’ve ever internet dated, you know surviving the experience is a win)
- snake fell on my head
- visited the American Southwest
- called 911 while on a run because I thought someone was being assaulted but it was just two little kids play/scream-fighting in a hot tub
- bee flew into my mouth
- slowed down significantly on overseas travel, but sneaked in some visits to old haunts and new favorites: Israel, England, Scotland, France, New Zealand, Haiti, Korea
- broke my ankle falling off a bucket (and leveraged the experience for the plot of my debut novel)
- started wearing reading glasses
- first international showing for one of my plays (Enter Macbeth, Dubai)
- made the switch to half-caff coffee
- dropped my entire dinner-on-the-grounds contribution in the church parking lot one Sunday before even getting out of the car
- earned a master’s degree in theological studies
- lost friends and connections to old age and sudden death
- attended funerals
- wrote and performed original music with a friend from church
- woke up with half a spider stuck to my neck and the other half under the fingernails of my right hand
- said “Okay, I love you, BYE!” at the end of a Skype lecture to a high school class
- frog jumped on my head
- audiobook I’d loaded on my phone started playing at full volume in the middle of church (not a sacred text)
- intermittently treated for chronic pain, neuropathy, and inflammation
- surprise medical tests, contemplated my own mortality
- read nearly 2,000 books (official count started in 2011 – 1,712 as of today)
- developed a long list of historical boyfriends (see above)
- touched an alligator
- stopped working with the church youth group and started teaching adult women
- opened an umbrella in the car directly into my own face (twice)
- finally joined Spotify (please welcome me to the twenty-first century)
2019 finds me in a place that 2010 Ruth would never have imagined. To be honest, I have mixed feelings. I’m thankful for the successes but am ever mindful of the disappointments, struggles, and pain. Life is a beautiful, ridiculous, and messy mystery.
God’s grace keeps me steady.
What’s your decade been like? What items would you include on your list?
Comment below or shoot me a message on social media. I’d love to hear points of comparison and departure in our experiences.
Coming Soon
2020: A Year of Books
Each month during the next year, I’ll be sending a recommended set of titles for you to check out. No forced discussions, no homework, or anything like that. Just fresh reading recommendations casually delivered to your inbox on the first day of every month: fiction, non-fiction, classics and new releases, accessible Christian theology, well-known authors and debut writers, you name it.
Join us for 2020: A Year of Books!
I’ll be back next week to post my 2019 reading retrospective.
Until then, I hope you savor the last few days of 2019 and enjoy a wonderful holiday week with your family, friends, and loved ones.
Merry Christmas from me to you!
Ruth Buchanan 