#Reverb13, Day 9: Surprise

Throughout the month of December, I’ll be participating in #reverb13: Reverb is a way to reflect on the past year and project into the next year with a prompt a day for 31 days.

Day 9 – Surprise:
What surprised you the most this year?

Funny, I was just talking about this with someone within the last week.  In my Italian conversation group one night in June, we had a set topic to discuss:

a.) in what ways is Dallas a perfect city?
b.) in what ways is Dallas not a perfect city?
c.) of the things that could be changed, what would you most like to change about Dallas?

My answers (though I don't recall "a." exactly) were:

a.) Growing economy with a good job market, good housing market, low taxes (no income, moderate sales/property), big airport, central in the country, cultural attractions, warm weather, cool neighborhood where we live, many things I care about near our home (short run to work, close to running store, close to boot camp, close to cool restaurants and shops, lots of museums nearby). 
-- Reasons for my list:  the first two were certainly inspired by where we come from (Milwaukee and Pittsburgh aren't booming cities), and this was June, before the awfulness that can be a Dallas summer had hit.

b.) "no mountains, no mare (sea)", too sprawling, not enough urban life downtown, poor public transit.
-- Reasons for my list:  I was thinking of where we'd like to live one day, a town in Italy with mountains and the sea right there. 

c.) Rework the public transit system, possibly at the expense of highways, to get more life centered on downtown and move away from car dependence. 

And honestly, the very next day, this was my surprise:  http://carinaruns.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-monumental-shift.html

Yes, my complaint in point B about Dallas was proven wrong.  Dead wrong, as I shared here:  http://carinaruns.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-hill-loop-heart-rate.html