When my father died, people we never heard of turned up at his wake. Some told stories of a man we did not know. Two refrigerator-sized mobsters in suits showed up, sat 15 minutes then left - never saying a word. And the half-sister we never knew of. His wallet had half a dozen credit cards - all with different names. It's safe to say we barely knew him.

My mom is still alive. She's almost as mysterious. Her youth was in an abusive household - so she doesn't talk about her family. We have gotten some more hints of how bad it was only recently.