My dad's father had his tongue & part of his jaw removed due to cancer, but lived more than 20 years after that. He was difficult to understand when he talked, but while he was dying in the hospital, he couldn't talk at all. Now my father thought he knew everything about Grandpa, but all the sudden, on his deathbed, Grandpa started signing to everyone! Thank God a nurse understood, but you could have knocked my dad over with a feather. He never knew his dad knew how to sign, as Grandpa never once brought it up! He asked about it through the nurse and found out that, as a boy, Grandpa had a deaf friend, so he taught himself sign language. And more than 70 years later, without ever practicing it, or telling anyone he new it, he just starts when he's dying! Oh, and he was indignant nobody understood him, too!

Anybody in your family surprise you with something you found out about them?

(Yes, this is a reprise of a discussion I started many months ago, but it deserved more play and we have many new people!)