12 Shattering Truths That People Came to Grasp Years Later

As children, we often lack a full understanding of reality and fail to grasp the depth or seriousness of situations, especially during our formative years. However, as we mature, memories resurface, offering us a clearer perspective on past events. Occasionally, we may unearth deep-seated secrets about our own childhood or those close to us, granting us a fresh outlook on life, just as the people in this article did.

• In the summer, my dad used to wake me up at 9 am, give me breakfast, and then usher me out of the house, locking the back/front doors from the inside. I wasn’t allowed back inside until the streetlights came on, except for using the washroom or getting a drink.
  He’d tell me, «You’re not sitting around the house all day.» My stepmom never questioned it because she figured he was just getting me to play outside for a few hours.
  Years later, I realized that he just wanted me out of the house so that he can be alone and watch Hockey games. I never really questioned why he was kicking me out because the other kids that lived on the street were also outside around the same time as me. © AkKik-Maujaq / Reddit

• When I was a kid, we used to get this weird phone call from someone asking for «Mary Ellen.» No one at my house had that name. We would be like, «No, you have the wrong number?!? Stop calling here.»
  One time my sister just blurts out, «Oooooooooh... Mom, it’s probably your boyfriend and that’s a secret code.» She was absolutely kidding...but totally got it right. The parents got divorced around a year after that. 15 years later, he’s still my stepdad. © sandwichnerd / Reddit

• I didn’t know that my dad’s «vitamins» were actually anti-epileptic medications. He’s taken them for as long as I can remember, but I didn’t know the truth until I was 23. © OneHelluvaUsername/ Reddit

• In 9th grade, I was on a field trip with school and saw my dad’s car go by. He didn’t see me, but it was him and a lady I recognized from his work, and it was in the middle of a workday far from his office. About 5–6 years later, my parents got divorced, and a year later, the same lady moves in with him. It had been going on the whole time, and no one knows I know. © lzy_qa_guy / Reddit

• Growing up, my grandma on my mother’s side wanted nothing to do with us. When I would ask why, my mother was very vague in her reasons.
  Years later, I found out from a family friend that my dad had originally been dating my grandma and left her for her daughter (my mom). © Bladerunner54 / Reddit

• My entire family, including cousins 8+ years younger than me, knew that my dad had a second family. They kept it from me for years, even through my parents’ divorce and his eventual marriage to the «other woman.» Mom even knew, but they decided to wait until the night before I started my freshman year at a new school in a new city to tell me that he was leaving us. © SoundingWithSpiders / Reddit

• My grandmother has always been mean to her oldest daughter (my mom’s sister). She was always belittling her and criticizing her. I remember even when I was a kid, I thought she was just being so mean to her for no reason whatsoever. I just assumed she played favorites with her children to an extreme degree.
  When I was about 20, I learned that my grandmother conceived my aunt out of wedlock, before she had met and married my grandfather, and was mean to her because she doesn’t like being reminded about that part of her past.
  I had previously lost respect for her when I thought she was being mean to my aunt for no reason. When I found out the real reason, I just lost even more respect for her. © uh_oh_hotdog / Reddit

• My mom mentioned a guy she liked when she was younger, before she and dad got married. He looked very different from my dad. My dad is Italian, but this guy was blond.
  All my brothers and sisters look Italian, but I don’t. I’m blond with blue eyes. No one told me, but hmm... I’m wondering. © Windbiter / Reddit

• My biological father died before I was born. They always referred to him as «Uncle» Henry, and I never thought much about it.
  I never questioned why I didn’t look like my stepfather, but I suppose things clicked when I saw a picture of my real father. © mcmanybucks / Reddit

• I learned when I was 4 that I was adopted. I was always told it was a closed adoption, with no information on my biological family.
  When I was 13, I noticed my grandma had a picture on her wall of a young girl that looked like my twin, and everyone claimed not to remember who it was. At 17, I found out my adopted dad’s childhood friend was actually my biological grandma. It was her photo on the wall, and why it looked so much like me. © learningprof24 / Reddit

• My dad has a total of 5 brothers and sisters, all of them are married with kids except one of his sisters. She has always lived with my parents and me ever since I can remember.
  I recently found out that she’s actually my dad’s biological mother, and my dad never met his real dad. He was taken in by my grandma’s father as one of the brothers. His real mom (my grandma) never spoke to my dad about it. It’s an elephant in the room. © insp1red90 / Reddit

• I’m not my dad’s real son. I think he’s in the dark and doesn’t know, and my mother doesn’t know I know.
  I found out after seeing my father’s, siblings’, and mother’s blood types; they don’t match up. © Unknown author / Reddit

Sometimes, discovering a concealed truth about our loved ones can erode the trust we have in them. This was the case for Barbara, who was infuriated upon learning that her husband had been providing financial support to his sister without her knowledge. Read her complete story here.