Here is a list of 10 things that I once thought couldn’t happen, but have happened recently.

1. Going to a grocery store having large swaths of items not in stock. During Sandy and the pandemic I was amazed to see empty shelves.

2. Actual climate change. Major changes are happening very quickly, its hard to keep up.

3. Legal Marijuana. Good or bad? I just never thought it would catch on and become a thing around the country.

4. Overturning Roe vs. Wade. Really?

5. January 6, 2021.

6. The empty streets during the early days of the pandemic. Life was terrifying but also strangely calm.

7. Wild fires in Canada that would be so bad as to turn our entire sky orange in New York City. The explosiveness of wild fires in general is surprising.

8. 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. (Kind of a grey swan.)

9. Rapid intensification of hurricanes. Waiting for a hurricane to come on shore always seemed like a big wait feast. There would be days of warning and discussion on the news. Now its like a reporter says, “there seems like a disturbance in weather in the gulf.” You go out to the kitchen and come back and it is a category 4 hurricane barreling towards Florida.

10. It is publicly legal to gamble on the presidential election. I remember asking my parents why gambling was illegal as a kid. They said firmly, it’s immoral. Who doesn’t like playing poker (YES!) or betting on their favorite football team (NOPE)? If he were alive, I would like to hear what Pete Rose would have to say. Betting in the national presidential election seems a little immoral. And too far!