# Family Secrets That Ain't No Surprise **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 2, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828 "2006-03-02T22:30:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/1 "2006-03-02T22:30:56Z")
During the first eight years of our parents marriage, we were born: 1951, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958(miscarriage). We were in our teens when we learned of our mother’s miscarriage, but it wasn’t until my father’s death that my mother told us of our father’s vasectomy in 1958. D’uh!! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/2 "2006-03-02T22:53:25Z")
I was in my late teens before my dad admitted to me that my mother was “with child” when they got married. As if I couldn’t do the math and see that I was born a scant 7 months after the wedding. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/3 "2006-03-02T23:14:17Z")
I was in my early teens when I figured out that my dad had an affair with my mom before divorcing his first wife and marrying her. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/4 "2006-03-02T23:57:48Z")
I didn’t know that I had a half-brother until I was 13 when he sent a letter to us, saying that he wanted to get to know his “little brothers.” Too bad he was a dick. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/5 "2006-03-02T23:59:02Z")
No comment. Not being shy, I just don’t this board has enough disk space for me to post a true and full account of everyting we got goin’ on. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/6 "2006-03-03T00:00:15Z")
> [@LiveOnAPlane](#): > > No comment. Not being shy, I just don’t this board has enough disk space for me to post a true and full account of everyting we got goin’ on. “…just don’t THINK this board…” Sorry ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/7 "2006-03-03T00:10:12Z")
> [@Homebrew](#): > > I was in my late teens before my dad admitted to me that my mother was “with child” when they got married. As if I couldn’t do the math and see that I was born a scant 7 months after the wedding. Heh. My husband’s great-aunt told us about the wives’ tale that the first child could be born any time- it was only subsequent babies that had to take the whole 9 months to be born! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Giant\_Spongess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@Giant\_Spongess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giant_Spongess)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/8 "2006-03-03T00:13:08Z")
My aunt waited until my grandmother died before adopting a chinese kid with her female “housemate”. Who had lived with her for ten years. And they had lots of dogs and cats. And they both wear birkenstocks… ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/9 "2006-03-03T00:19:46Z")
My friend’s brother, at the age of 19, found out that he’s actually about 6 months older than his parents had always told him he was. Bit of a shocker, that. ---
**Author:** ![EnderWay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d26b3c/32.png) [@EnderWay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnderWay)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/10 "2006-03-03T00:36:35Z")
A few years ago I saw a special on the History Channel about the Great Northeast Blackout of 1965, I acutally saw this before the 2003 blackout, and realized … hey November 9, 1965 … November to December 1 month … December to January 2 months … ect August 4, 1966 Ding Hey Mom & Dad Me and my twin brother are Blacout Babies!! Hah Hah … Busted 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Faruiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@Faruiza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faruiza)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/11 "2006-03-03T00:42:26Z")
I have a half sister somewhere from a relationship my father had before he married my mother. I’m the only one who knows. I haven’t decided if I’m ever going to do anything with that information…but it’s kinda weeeeird. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/12 "2006-03-03T01:33:25Z")
I was in college before I realized the true nature of my aunt’s relationship with her roommate. They’d lived together for at least 10 years by then, the woman always came to our family get-togethers and holidays, and she wore those ankle boots that zip up on the side. How could I not have known?? I only figured it out because she wrote a letter to me alluding to her “lifestyle choice”. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/13 "2006-03-03T01:41:21Z")
> [@Giant\_Spongess](#): > > My aunt waited until my grandmother died before adopting a chinese kid with her female “housemate”. Who had lived with her for ten years. And they had lots of dogs and cats. And they both wear birkenstocks… I was in my midtwenties before I figured out that one of my older relatives is gay, even though we all visited each other regularly, she had a very short list of long-term female “roommates,” uses a unisex nickname instead of her rather flowery given name, plays a lot of sports, looks and dresses rather like a man . . . But then again, even though my family is a bunch of bigots, NOBODY talks about it. Ever. No gay jokes ever, either. It’s the elephant in the room that nobody talks about, not even her. So I had zero gaydar when I was a kid and young adult. I only recently learned about the lesbians who lived in our dorm in college. Hung out with them regularly and had no clue. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/14 "2006-03-03T01:46:08Z")
My family secrets are a little too secret to toss about on the Internet. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/15 "2006-03-03T01:46:30Z")
I was born on Nov 13. I was in college before I realized the ramifications of _that_. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/16 "2006-03-03T01:46:36Z")
Okay, what is with the “lesbian aunt” thing? I have one too! A great-aunt, actually. Very butch, never married… and I had no idea. She even had the short nickname for a very feminine given name. We aren’t related, are we **Scarlett**? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Atheist\_Princess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@Atheist\_Princess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atheist_Princess)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/17 "2006-03-03T02:14:38Z")
> [@Faruiza](#): > > I have a half sister somewhere from a relationship my father had before he married my mother. I’m the only one who knows. > > I haven’t decided if I’m ever going to do anything with that information…but it’s kinda weeeeird. Ditto on both there… ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/18 "2006-03-03T02:20:36Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > I was born on Nov 13. > > I was in college before I realized the ramifications of _that_. It took me about 30 seconds, but I finally got it. Good one. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/19 "2006-03-03T02:22:01Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > I was born on Nov 13. > > I was in college before I realized the ramifications of _that_. The Battle of Guadalcanal? ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828/20 "2006-03-03T02:23:26Z")
> [@brianjedi](#): > > The Battle of Guadalcanal? Try Valentine’s Day. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/family-secrets-that-aint-no-surprise/346828.md?page=2)