Things you learnt about your parents that you didn't expect

TheDriver

Just wondering about things you learnt about your parents one day out of the blue.

My example was about 4 years ago, I was chatting to my Dad while my Mum was doing the usual making herself look busy but not actually doing anything. They were about 35 years married. Anyways, we got talking about Rome and he mentioned that he had to wait for ages while my Mum went shopping one time they were on hols. She proclaimed that it was only for 5 mins and he was sitting by a nice fountain to which he replied that a couple had come along, asked him to be a witness/best man at their wedding and the lady beside him as other witness. They attended the mass, took photos and returned to the nice fountain to continue waiting for my Mum. He was annoyed my Mum took so long, he never told her until that day!

The Backwards Man

They had sex at least once.

keithsfleet

I know jack sh1t about my parents.
We all like mystery in my house.

Ihatecuddles

We went to Amsterdam when I was about 12, my parents went out for the whole day and me and my sister stayed in the hotel.

Turns out the were off getting high. My parents are very anti drugs, or so I thought. My mam also taught my brothers how to roll joints, I swear if you met my mam you wouldn't believe me.

Schwiiing

In his youth my ould fella did all the same boy racer nonsense I used to get up to. It all came out during a session after a funeral. The lectures soon stopped after that :pac:.

sammyjo90

My dad only has one ball...didnt really need to learn that but now i think he's hitler..explains the random outburts in german

urabell

mauzo! wrote: »

We went to Amsterdam when I was about 12, my parents went out for the whole day and me and my sister stayed in the hotel.

Turns out the were off getting high. My parents are very anti drugs, or so I thought. My mam also taught my brothers how to roll joints, I swear if you met my mam you wouldn't believe me.

Madeline?

shopaholic01

urabell wrote: »

Madeline?

You're still alive! Anyone else try to murder you since I last saw you?

jane82

When I was about 8 my dad brought me to one of his football matches. He was working two jobs trying to get a deposit on a house at the time so I only ever seem him tired and cranky.
I was waiting outside the dressing room and there was riotous laughter going on the whole time. So curiousity got the better of me and I poked me head in the door. My da had taken centre stage and had everybody in stitches cracking joke after joke and Id never seen that in him.
When he gave up the second job he was like that again but that was the first time I realised he was a sound enough chap and not some worker robot.

sadie06

We didn't get a phone in our house until I was 16, and up until the first time I heard my dad on the phone to a work mate, I had never, ever heard him curse. He was effin and blindin' and I was in total shock!

The tradition has been carried on, as my father would keel over if he ever heard the real foul mouthed me.

Eoin247

My mom dated Tom Selleck when he was working in Paris. She also told me the slightly worrying stuff they all used to get up to back then.

I'm telling you, my generation sounds very tame after hearing some of those stories.

orangesoda

Nothing really, ironic given how 'exciting' n.ireland was when they were young

nbar12

When I was younger, my dad would bring me to mass every Sunday right up until I was about 11 or so until I started refusing to go. Anyway, another family tragedy hit my dads side of the family 2 years ago and around a month after the death, I asked him what he thought about it all, what did he believe in. Expecting him to say when you die you got to heaven etc, instead he just turned to me and said: "ah sure it's all a load of bollocks, probably science"...couldn't believe the fuucker had dragged me to mass all those years and then comes out with that statement

.Henry Sellers.

Eoin247 wrote: »

My mom dated Tom Selleck when he was working in Paris. She also told me the slightly worrying stuff they all used to get up to back then.

I'm telling you, my generation sounds very tame after hearing some of those stories.

What worrying stuff did they get up to? Moustache related shenanigans?

jane82

.Henry Sellers. wrote: »

What worrying stuff did they get up to? Moustache related shenanigans?

He had a moustache you could comb your hair with.

.Henry Sellers.

jane82 wrote: »

He had a moustache you could comb your hair with.

He's right, that is worrying.

urabell

shopaholic01 wrote: »

You're still alive! Anyone else try to murder you since I last saw you?

tried and failed, I'll tell all when I feel after hours is ready.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

That my father's a bloody hypocrite..

This railway bridge over a road near my house, you have to inch around it because it's on a blind bend, and only wide enough for 1.5 cars, so you've to check for oncoming traffic before proceeding.

Bit easier at night because you'll see the headlights.

Didn't take me long to cop that if I knocked off my headlights as I approached, then I wouldn't even have to slow down, as I'd know straight away if there was oncoming cars. My dad was in the passenger seat one night, and he was horrified, said how dangerous it was, and not to do it.

Being young and thinking I was a great fella I kept it up. Then one night, came through it, screech of breaks, skid, BAM.. fender bender. Hopped out, hoping I didn't injure anyone, other driver got out. Both of us stared at each other.

There was my feckin dad, with HIS headlights off too.

2Mad2BeMad

My dad is real anti drug
but I found out when I turned 18 that he use too be quite the junkie in his youth
he took heroine and coke while growing up, he either stopped that or sells it on the side now because theirs no way he would be able too afford a the house hes living in if he was still using
kinda shocked me thats probably why I still smoke weed right now haha

Calibos

2Mad2BeMad wrote: »

My dad is real anti drug
but I found out when I turned 18 that he use too be quite the junkie in his youth
he took heroine and coke while growing up, he either stopped that or sells it on the side now because theirs no way he would be able too afford a the house hes living in if he was still using
kinda shocked me thats probably why I still smoke weed right now haha

If your Da drives a Humvee Limo taxi then I think you should sit down. You need to know something........

pappyodaniel

TheDriver wrote: »

Just wondering about things you learnt about your parents one day out of the blue.

My example was about 4 years ago, I was chatting to my Dad while my Mum was doing the usual making herself look busy but not actually doing anything. They were about 35 years married. Anyways, we got talking about Rome and he mentioned that he had to wait for ages while my Mum went shopping one time they were on hols. She proclaimed that it was only for 5 mins and he was sitting by a nice fountain to which he replied that a couple had come along, asked him to be a witness/best man at their wedding and the lady beside him as other witness. They attended the mass, took photos and returned to the nice fountain to continue waiting for my Mum. He was annoyed my Mum took so long, he never told her until that day!

did I read this story before on AH? Either that or you're full of it and this was in a movie. Sounds very familiar.

Junco Partner

I asked my mother If she believed one night. turns out that she views it with as much contempt as I do. She told me even my grandad has been a non believer most of his life. Very, odd for his generation; even more so for a man who almost became a priest in his boyhood.

My favourite part of my mothers revelation though, was her telling me that the ony reason my folks bothered with the religion ****e with me and my younger siblings was so that other people wouldn't have a reason to single us out for torment. Kind of makes sense knowing how nasty kids are to any other kid with even the slightest difference. I wonder how many of my friends parents sent their kids to church for the exact same reason. I wonder how long it's been since The irish were catholics through belief rather than because everyone else was.

Calibos

Junco Partner wrote: »

I asked my mother If she believed one night. turns out that she views it with as much contempt as I do. She told me even my grandad has been a non believer most of his life. Very, odd for his generation; even more so for a man who almost became a priest in his boyhood.

My favourite part of my mothers revelation though, was her telling me that the ony reason my folks bothered with the religion ****e with me and my younger siblings was so that other people wouldn't have a reason to single us out for torment. Kind of makes sense knowing how nasty kids are to any other kid with even the slightest difference. I wonder how many of my friends parents sent their kids to church for the exact same reason. I wonder how long it's been since The irish were catholics through belief rather than because everyone else was.

....and Yet both grandad and mother still fill in Catholic on the census. Its the same in every second house in the country thus the church being able to claim a seat at every discussion table cause the country is 96% catholic after all..... :rolleyes:

My Ma was the same. Only the last census did I manage to convince her to put everyone down as atheist. The previous one she still put herself and the oul fella down as catholic.

osarusan

I was in our attic one time and found loads of letters that my father had sent to my mother from when they were going out together. This would have been mid 60's, so she'd kept them for more than 30 years.

I had a look and they were sweet at first, then turned....graphic.

I can no longer visit the attic. I get shivers.

banquo

My mother went on a few dates with Tony Gregory waaay back in the day.

She was quite young, just back from a year abroad, and was having her first pint ever in Ireland. She ordered a pint of Guinness.

When the bar manager informed her that women couldn't be served a pint, only a girl's glass, and was otherwise extremely rude and condescending, Tony decked him.

TheDriver

pappyodaniel wrote: »

did I read this story before on AH? Either that or you're full of it and this was in a movie. Sounds very familiar.

Maybe I did post it before but its definitely true and if you saw my Dad, you'd think there were no secrets floating around that head......

Ihatecuddles

urabell wrote: »

Madeline?

My sister was 23 at the time :P not exactly irresponsible on my parents part!

Arthur Beesley

The Backwards Man wrote: »

They had sex at least once.

So you have a sibling. Wonder where they got you from...

greenheart

Calibos wrote: »

....and Yet both grandad and mother still fill in Catholic on the census. Its the same in every second house in the country thus the church being able to claim a seat at every discussion table cause the country is 96% catholic after all..... :rolleyes:

My Ma was the same. Only the last census did I manage to convince her to put everyone down as atheist. The previous one she still put herself and the oul fella down as catholic.

I never taught of it that way. Next census all my family will be marking atheist. Thx for that..
After my dad made his confirmation him and his younger brother ran away to England. They got the ferry over with him still in his confirmation clothes. They were gone for a few days and all my nanny said when they came back was "your dinner is nearly ready"

Lovely Bloke

My dad was a decent boxer back in the day, described in the Irish Press as "The Dublin Cassius Clay" - he was competing up to a very high standard and was one fight away from the Olympics - he lost the fight against a guy he's beaten three times previously, he claims he had a cold on the night. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. Who knows.

Anyway, fast forward a few decades and he is on holidays with a gang of relations (8 of them) in Latvia. They were sitting outside a cafe one night, drinking a coffee after dinner when some local young holigan begins to harass them, throws a few digs at my uncle. There's a bit of an argument, and the fella heads off, only to return a few minutes later - the way the crowd were situated meant my Dad only caught sight of the guy out of the corner of his eye just as he was about clobber my uncle, up jumped my 60-odd year old dad and with a single punch straightened him - flat out.

I was never told about this until my uncle told the tale at a recent night out. I've never even seen my dad raise fists, so this was a total surprise. I know a few other boxers who refuse to get into fights, or retailiate in any way to arseholes in clubs and the likes, because trained boxers can do serious damage. Seems my dad never lost it.

Arthur Beesley

Calibos wrote: »

....and Yet both grandad and mother still fill in Catholic on the census.

Trying to understand how you could know this...

Ihatecuddles

Arthur Beesley wrote: »

Trying to understand how you could know this...

Maybe he sees them do it??

The Backwards Man

Arthur Beesley wrote: »

So you have a sibling. Wonder where they got you from...

I came free in a Special K box, it's why I am so sweet.

dodzy

Eoin247 wrote: »

My mom dated Tom Selleck when he was working in Paris. She also told me the slightly worrying stuff they all used to get up to back then.

I'm telling you, my generation sounds very tame after hearing some of those stories.

Eoin, as a nipper.....:D

Sadderday

my mother proposed to my father... on the dart in 1971.... he only said yes cos she told him she would inherit 1000 pound from her granny which was a lie to get him to say yes.

Since the aul lad seems like an aul romantic, I really didnt think my mother was a desperado !

Arthur Beesley

mauzo! wrote: »

Maybe he sees them do it??

So you think the poster saw another unrelated posters mother fill in the census form?

Ihatecuddles

Arthur Beesley wrote: »

So you think the poster saw another unrelated posters mother fill in the census form?

Do you not hang out with other posters family members?

Alan_P

Sadderday wrote: »

my mother proposed to my father... on the dart in 1971

No she didn't. The Dart didn't exist in 1971.

Sadderday

Alan_P wrote: »

No she didn't. The Dart didn't exist in 1971.

Haha, my mother is a liar .... why do they do that to beef up their stories!

missierex

The Backwards Man wrote: »

They had sex at least once.

While attempting to pull curtain tabs down over a curtain pole (with the pole between her legs) my mam exclaimed with a cheeky grin 'it's like putting on a French Letter'.

She was obviously well-familiar with condoms back in the day. :eek:

ash23

I recently found out that my mam met my dad when she was going out with his housemate. The bould feckers!

The housemate was late home from work and mam called over to see him. She shortly after dumped him and got together with dad.

Sleepy

That they were relatively financially comfortable by the time I was in my teens. My parents had both started with nothing but had both had decent jobs by the time my mother left the workforce to raise me and my siblings. A few promotions for my dad later and by the time I was in 2nd year and my mother had returned to work, they were sitting pretty financially. Having been born in 1980 and them not having had much until the 90's, however, my sister and I were both raised with the idea that our family were "poor" even though we'd spent our entire lives living in nice middle-class estates. Foreign holidays weren't unheard of but they certainly weren't every year and I was 16 before I boarded my first international flight. Brand name clothing was something you got for Christmas or your birthday.

I remember a night out in my late teens when a school friend mentioned our school's trip to somewhere in Europe (Italy IIRC) that he'd been on and my mother asked me how come I hadn't gone on it. I hadn't even mentioned it's existence to my parents because I'd thought it was something our family couldn't afford and "knew" the answer would be no.

eisenberg1

Sadderday wrote: »

Haha, my mother is a liar .... why do they do that to beef up their stories!

Maybe she just meant on the train, which at that time ran on what is the now the DART line .

eisenberg1

sammyjo90 wrote: »

My dad only has one ball...didnt really need to learn that but now i think he's hitler..explains the random outburts in german

Himmler had something similar.

Aglomerado

eisenberg1 wrote: »

Himmler had something similar.

And poor old Goebbels had no balls at all! :P

Ah the Teutonic Testicular Torsion.

Kaycee2

I had a mate who worked in the local pub collecting glasses and he came up to me one day and told me there was great crack in the pub with me dad the night before that he was always a great laugh , I remember saying are ye sure it was my da, he was a house devil street angel, I remember feeling really jealous that I never got to see that side of him

Another surprise from him when I was even younger we went around to the local church when there was a wedding on and there was me da throwing the gruchie, raging I was cause we never had a penny

I Heart Internet

Kaycee2 wrote: »

Another surprise from him when I was even younger we went around to the local church when there was a wedding on and there was me da throwing the gruchie, raging I was cause we never had a penny

The what??

Stone Deaf 4evr

I Heart Internet wrote: »

The what??

Its a tradition of throwing money at the bride and groom, pretty sure its a dublin thing.

PizzamanIRL

My mother gave birth to a genius.

Talib Fiasco

I knew from a young age how my parents first met as most children do....nothing too special, it was at some dance thing, boy approaches girl and all that boring sh*t. It was only at a wedding when I was about 12 or 13 that I found out the full story, for better or for worse.

As is the way at Irish weddings all the married couples have to share the embarrassing first moments....I was quite intrigued by the men's romantic techniques, I guess "wanna shift or what" wasn't as popular back then.

Anyway the mother could talk the flu out of ya and told the lovely story once again and of course I was cringing for all concerned....being the youngest in the family it was only natural I'd get all the aww treatment for being the devilish teenager that would break my mothers heart and they mentioned that I'd be doing worse at the local disco....cue fits of laughter from all parties....and sure I'd be lying if I denied it :P

Then the mother drops the bombshell....that exact same place where the teeny bopper disco's were held and where I frequented proudly 'plying my trade' was the exact same place where my parents had first met.... It was a country western fortress before Dj Cammy and Cascada took over :rolleyes: I nearly vomited on the spot. Images and thoughts of my parents amongst that dripping sweat, sawdust and 'that' smell, things that were iconic to my early teen years was horrifying.

I remember in college last year we all had to tell the story of where our parents met (don't ask me why a lecturer even asked this) but when it was my turn everyone in the room was in tears laughing for a good few minutes :rolleyes:

Titzon Toast

A little OT, but I became a dad two years ago and I would absolutely dread my son finding out about even half of the crazy shiit I've gotten up to over the years!

It really is a case of a poacher turned gamekeeper though, I know all the tricks at this stage...