"What was the thing you thought was a lie until you realised it was true?" –– Special thanks to Redditor 
SYETHOUD, who reminds us that things aren't always as they appear.
"When I was 10..."
When I was 10 my mom was giving me the puberty talk. I thought she was lying and trying to scare me when she said that I'd wake up one day with blood in my underwear.
"My older uncle..."
My older uncle told me when I turn 30 go buy a suit because you 'll have a lot of funerals to attend. I'm now late 30s and been to 5 in the past few years.
"This guy..."
This guy acting like he was crazy when I got to college. He was so over the top and since I was at an artsy school, I thought it was an act. Later in the year he launched himself from a third-story balcony into the dining hall. Yeah, it wasn't an act.
"Later, I realized the appeal..."
That adults put their tongues in each other's mouths on purpose and that they like it. Legit thought the other girls in kindergarten were lying and it made me nauseous. Later, I realized the appeal..... much much later.
"When I was 6..."
When I was 6, I asked my mom how babies were made. She told me very matter-of-factly that a man puts his penis inside a woman's vagina. I thought she was making up a weird, gross lie to avoid telling me the real truth.
"While changing countries..."
While changing countries, I was told that I would feel a sense of homelessness and I didn't really believe it. I've been away for college and back to my home country during summer for almost 3 years now, and I have acquired a constant feeling of being misplaced both at the country I've moved to AND at my home country. It's terrible.
"My mom told me..."
My mom told me that after high school, I'd lose some of my closest friends. "They're going to move on and start turning into other people over time." I laughed that off because I thought we weren't going to be like that.
We were just seven unpopular kids with a hilarious group chat. We did so much together. Now, there's two of us left.
I miss them.
"That my friend..."
That my friend could not be trusted.
It should not have taken 11 years to accept that.
If everyone around you doesn't like somebody that you're close to, and has good reason for their distrust, take their word for it and really, REALLY rethink if the way they treat you is truly better than just being alone.
"I was in my mid-20s..."
I was in my mid-20s when I discovered that narwhals were actual animals and not made up like unicorns.
"That kids..."
That kids pick their nose and ate boogers. I always thought it was just a mean rumor kids spread about other kids. Then when I was 17 or 18 my best friend casually mentioned that she did it as a kid. Mind. Blown.
"Hit and Run"
I thought one of my good friends killed two people in a hit and run.
We knew he was a crazy aggressive driver. He lived a block from where the accident occurred. We knew he would've been coming home on that street at around that time. The witness description matched his vehicle.
And he suddenly disappeared to Mexico two days after it happened. When he came back, he didn't have his vehicle.
We knew somebody in our group must have tipped off the police, because when he came back a couple weeks later, he told us all about how he was questioned upon his return from Mexico. He said he went to go see his ailing grandpa, and they decided to stay a couple extra weeks so his mom could make plans for a lengthy visitation over the Summer. He left his vehicle there so his mom could drive around in a safer, less Lexus-shaped car.
They didn't have enough evidence to arrest him, his story checked out, and they let him go without incident.
For years we thought he had gotten away with vehicular manslaughter. It was kind of the "dark secret" between us that we didn't bring up openly. We were all pretty certain he was guilty, and the police completely failed in thoroughly investigating him, probably because he came from an affluent family of lawyers.
Turns out we were wrong. About 10 years after the fatal hit and run, some random old guy who lived 20 miles away was arrested for DUI hit and run. His vehicle matched the description of another recent hit and run. They did some digging to see just how many hit and runs this guy had, and they found evidence that would've put him at the one we thought our friend did. He plead guilty, and last I checked, faced 20+ years.
So I'm conflicted. Do I owe my friend an apology for simply thinking he was guilty, and expressing that thought to other people who already felt the same way? Or do I just forego the apology, recognize I never brought it up to his face, and leave behind a chapter I'm sure he'd like to leave behind as well?
'On purpose'
That adults put their tongues in each other's mouths on purpose and that they like it. Legit thought the other girls in kindergarten were lying and it made me nauseous. Later, I realized the appeal..... much much later.
People eat cactus
I hear Cactus juice is very thirst-quenching.
Drink cactus juice, it'll quench ya! Nothings quenchier! It's the quenchiest!
Unicorn is the national animal of Scotland.
Scotland is now my favorite country
Probably a little late for anyone to see this, but it's not that odd really. The unicorn was picked in the 12th century because it was believed to fight the lion, which was England's symbol. Nobody in Scotland had seen a unicorn, sure, but nobody in England had seen a lion either. The unicorn was about as reasonable to believe in for Scots as the lion was for English, and appears in bestiaries well through the Renaissance.
"Running Out'
That the world is running out of beach sand. Erosion is stripping all the sand from the shores into the ocean, and desert sand is too fine to replace it. It's so bad that many countries have a sand black market.
Edit: Black Market is of River and Beach sand to build artificial land and replenish beach sand.oyal
'Made up"
I was in my mid-20s when I discovered that narwhals were actual animals and not made up like unicorns.
