my parents were both VERY close-mouthed about medical histories and personal histories.

it wasn't until I was having my first baby that I learned (from my mom) that:

1. my maternal grandmother was actually a STEP-grandmother, that my biological grandmother had died in childbirth... and two of her sisters had MS.

2. my paternal grandfather was ALSO not related to me biologically, he married my Nana AFTER she had two children by a previous husband.

3. bipolar disorder and MS run in my family, and that over a DOZEN of my uncles, great-uncles, and aunts had been institutionalized, or committed suicide.

skeletons, skeletons...