Was this during the Cold War? Maybe he thought there’d be some sort of retribution if people knew he was Russian…? There was a teacher in high school who I suspect was from either Iran or Afghanistan and she would never tell students where she was from. I also have a friend who has a Palestinian father and when they all moved to the US (my friend spent her early childhood in Russia where her mother’s from) they changed their name from a Palestinian one to the name of a former US president and went so far as to adopt new FIRST NAMES as well (although I know her by her original name, which sounds English anyway). This friend spent her childhood deeply ashamed of being Palestinian (they were worried about Jews disliking them because of the Intifadah…that was part of the reason for the name changes, etc.) and didn’t tell people about her ethnicity until college. Obviously everyone was just like, “WTF? Why would we care?”
I apologize for the hijack- was just theorizing on reasons why some people don’t reveal their ethnic background. Carry on.
My father supposedly has one BIG secret that I can never know. My mother mentioned that it existed when she decided to get a divorce when I was 13 and I never forgot about it. I asked her later and she was mortified that she ever mentioned there was such a thing and she would never tell and to never bring it up again.
That seems pretty ordinary until you know my parents, especially my father and the insane shit that they have always shared with me. My father will happily talk all night long on the phone about strippers, gambling, assorted felonies, kidnapping, attempted murders, huge money, cheating on my mother, cheating on all his other wives, the pros and cons to doing various drugs, and some very deep and dark historical family secrets that very few people know.
There is exactly one that cannot be shared though and it must be a big one based on everything else they will share. I always guessed it was that I have a missing older sibling somewhere like from my hometown and that person doesn’t know it either. That is the only thing I can think of that they wouldn’t want me to know.
I wouldn’t go out with someone who was practically a stranger. I don’t know if I’d ever go out with a coworker or boss. Most of my coworkers and bosses have been female. At least they claim. I’ve had my doubts about a few of them.
Part of the reason I think he’s shady is he was constantly putting out ads. Part of the interview was to come in early and work the rest of the day for free. I think he wanted cheap labor. He told me, if I get the job it’s off the books. Which of course wasn’t in the ad.
My grandma thinks that everyone should live with their significant other before marrying them. I want to know if that’s based on her own experience with my grandfather. My mom once said that grandma never had anything good to say about him.
I’d also like to know what happened between my aunt (married to my uncle) and her sister to make my aunt completely disown not only her sister but her niece. My cousins have also disowned that part of the family. It’s such a forbidden topic that my aunt will (politely) ask for the topic to be changed if her sister or niece are mentioned in conversation.
Oh, and why was grandma kicked out of her pinochle group after all the years she’s been playing with them? Grandma says that the woman in charge told her she didn’t help in the kitchen enough and then yelled at her in front of everyone when she tried to come back, but I think there’s something missing from the story. The same woman who yelled at her sent her a Christmas card that mentioned something to the effect of my grandma coming back.
It’s obvious. He spent a year as the white sheep of the family: going to church, helping little old ladies across the street, donating to charity, etc, etc…
Now that I think about it, I’d love to know if my close friend sleep with a former flame that entered her life last year only to disappear again. She asked me if I though she should, because she’s engaged. I said no and she seemed very shocked at this. She was broken up when he left. I think they did, but can never get the nerve to ask her. Which is odd because she asks me what I’ve done with my boyfriend and I don’t get offended. I do lie, though. lol
I am pretty sure numbers 1 & 2 give you the answer to number 3.
As for what I want to know that is none of my business? Pretty much All of the Above. I am always curious about things I see going on, how did they die, where is that squad going, why did they do that, etc..Mostly it is just in passing, but some things will stick for a while. But there are always new things happening that I want to know about. And I never will for most of them.
Not something I want to know that’s NOMB, more something I want to buy that I have no business having. I want to find the cloth some of my old suits are made of so I can have vests and stuff made for them. (Just try doing this. Clothing makers are very careful not to let it happen.)
An almost daily one that occurred again this morning:
Living near Washignton DC, I often see groups of helicopters traveling in and out of the area. Certain configurations seem obviously to be protecting an important group/individual at the center. I always wonder who it is, where they’re going, and whether it is really worth all the expense to the taxpayers.
Maybe she is like our agency’s stalker who watches certain staff come and go and marks down the times. He writes rambling complaint letters that include other details about the employees’ work days that makes it seem like sometimes he follows them them around as well. He certainly thinks these employees are up to something, though the rest of us are not privy to just what he thinks they are doing (other than nefarious wasting of the taxpayers money, which I’m certain all our complaintants believe).
Mr. Horseshoe’s mother divulged to me years ago that her husband (my FIL) cheated on her rampantly and thoroughly, with many women, during their marriage. (They’re still together, by the way.)
I wonder if she still has sex with her husband. This means I’m thinking about my own in-laws knockin’ boots, but I can’t help it. They have a … well, I wouldn’t call it an affectionate demeanor to each other, but they’ve always acted polite and respectful of each other, at least in front of us. But he essentially lost one of his jobs because he was banging his secretary and the resulting favoritism started causing resentment among other employees there. I wouldn’t be able to get horny with someone after something like that!
Lord help me, but there’s also a tiny but real part of me that’s very curious what human flesh tastes like. I’ve long wondered how best to cook, specifically, the big round calf muscle. Weird, I know.
I want to know who left my ex-MIL for dead back in the 60s? She was beaten with a shovel, wrapped in plastic, and partially buried. She lost most of her left ring finger and her wedding ring was missing.
Was it my ex-FIL, as the entire town thought, or was it a drifter as is the official report? She would never talk about it, and now that she’s dead, I reckon only one person knows for sure.
A lot of times they’re decoys. When the President flies from the WH lawn to Andrews, there are always at least 2 helicopters, so the guy with the Stinger missile isn’t sure which one to fire at.
OK, I’ll add one. My father grew up as an only child, even though he had 2 older brothers who both died young, 1 as an infant, 1 when he was 5 or so. The official word was always that they both died of natural causes, but well after his mother was gone, he was told what may have been some malicious intrafamily gossip (the family never forgave her for “marrying down” - Grandpa and his sister were orphans, maybe not worthy of her). The story was that Grandma couldn’t breastfeed, but her mother browbeat her out of using a bottle, and the kid starved to death. The second boy had epilepsy and perhaps other problems, and one day, rather than deal with yet another seizure, she left him alone rather than roll his head off the pillow.
Mom was an only child too, but simply because her mother got toxemia and couldn’t go for 2. So, I don’t have any aunts or uncles or first cousins, just the graves of my father’s brothers. I only remember Grandma as neurotic and overprotective of Dad, who never did learn to calm himself down and relax.
So, it’s sort of my business anyway, but nobody alive knows the truth and I never will, so here it is: Did my grandmother kill my uncles?
When I was 16 a neighbor “went nuts”, got into a standoff with a cop and ended up shooting himself. I was actually watching, but fortunately he was in a car and far enough away that I just knew what I was seeing without really seeing it. I actually would have said I knew him pretty well. The wife and kids ended up not moving, but they had no local family. My parents sort of became proxy grandparents. So I saw lots of them and the daughter and I sort of had a tween this is not a romance be before she figured out she was a lesbian…but I never did hear anything about what was going on that awful day.
About 7-8 years later, probably my favorite uncle, the one who always showed a lot of interest in me, killed himself. Supposedly he left a note that his oldest son (my cousin) read and has refused to share with any of the family.
A guy I used to work with and knew pretty well is now a woman. Where to start with the questions were it any of my beeswax!
