Have You Ever Found Out Something Surprising About a Family Member?

As long as they aren't literal skeletons in the closet...wait a minute, even a story about that would be interesting to some of us!

Really, there is no requirement that the story be "good", only that you feel comfortable sharing.
So, yeah, I can understand not wanting to go there.

But anybody else, please tell whatever surprised you when you learned about it! less

I suppose that's a valid point. Hmmm...

I was surprised to learn my grandmother wanted to make amends on her deathbed for how she treated me. But, I refused to grant her the wish. Just because you're dying doesn't give you the right to be absolved from what you did when you had 21 years to stop acting that way and apologize. less

I just did that poll on what you call/called your grandmother(s). It made me think of the following:

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 you family surprise you with something you found out about them? less