This Is Not The Secret (extended preview)

0:01[SPEAKER_00]: Your grandparents are liars, they have a darkness, and I'm not talking about that one dead tooth. [SPEAKER_00]: They have a secret, and I'm not talking about the not so subtle racism. [SPEAKER_00]: Grandma and Grandpa can't be trusted, and it's funny for how noble and trusting grandparents are known to be. [SPEAKER_00]: The first thing my wife and I did after getting home from the hospital with our first born was rank our parents [SPEAKER_00]: Like not your mom after Ambien or not my dad until we've literally tried anyone else.

0:37[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like grandparents will kind of let you know where they want to fall in the pecking order by how endearing their official Grandparent nickname is. [SPEAKER_00]: Like in our family, we have Baba, Love, Meema, and Malcolm. [SPEAKER_00]: That's my dad's name, Malcolm. [SPEAKER_00]: My dad grew up in West Minister, California as one of seven siblings. [SPEAKER_00]: All of whom had names that started with the letter. [SPEAKER_00]: M. Mike Mitch Matt Mark Mallory Malcolm and Melinda.

1:05[SPEAKER_00]: 7. [SPEAKER_00]: Seven M's. [SPEAKER_00]: Ah, ah, I'm not going to do the whole count chocolate bit, but you get it. [SPEAKER_00]: It's a lot. [SPEAKER_00]: And as you might have guessed, seven kids fighting for food at the dinner table, led to them all, growing up to be really successful. [SPEAKER_00]: Across the board from medical politics, my dad is a world champion cyclist. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he's in his 60s, has less body fat than Michael Jordan did in his prime.

1:30[SPEAKER_00]: And if I grew up to be anything like him, I will peek sexually in my 50s. [SPEAKER_00]: we are a crazy big Irish family. [SPEAKER_00]: Every game of two touch football that we've ever tried playing has quickly evolved into an aggressive game of tackle. [SPEAKER_00]: Every family reunion turns into a dance party and at every wedding I get to watch my uncle's wrestle with alcoholism like it's a sexuality. [SPEAKER_00]: it's the best and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world.

2:00[SPEAKER_00]: And for as long as I can remember, my extended family has always been something I've looked forward to sharing with a family of my own one day. [SPEAKER_00]: But if Nicole Kidman's last four mini series roles have taught us anything, it's said every affluent family has its secrets. [SPEAKER_00]: and look. [SPEAKER_00]: I know everyone has something they're not telling someone. [SPEAKER_00]: But what I recently uncovered has me questioning how well I ever really knew, some of the people that loved me the most.

2:33[SPEAKER_00]: Towards the end of my grandma's life, at least once a week, my dad would grab me or one of my sisters. [SPEAKER_00]: and we'd make the two and a half hour drive from Los Angeles to Banning, California to visit her in the hospital. [SPEAKER_00]: It's really interesting what starts happening to the human brain when everything else is closing up shop. [SPEAKER_00]: My grandmother claimed to see the ceiling opening up to the heavens. [SPEAKER_00]: She was having conversations with people that were not there.

2:59[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, if we're being honest, sometimes you'd make the drive down to spend time with that person you love to find out that they weren't really mentally checked in. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, there was one time, and I'm glad I didn't step out into the hallway for a snack from the vending machine for this one. [SPEAKER_00]: On one of our visits, my grandmother admitted to putting up a child for adoption. [SPEAKER_00]: Look, usually this would be a bombshell moment, normally.

3:27[SPEAKER_00]: This would be a drop the mic, but here's the thing, my grandmother had already admitted to putting another kid up for adoption. [SPEAKER_00]: So this wasn't a wait, grandma. [SPEAKER_00]: No, how could you keep this from us? [SPEAKER_00]: What? [SPEAKER_00]: It was more of a Jesus Christ, grandma. [SPEAKER_00]: Again, that's right. [SPEAKER_00]: Just about the time my dad was getting ready to graduate from high school. [SPEAKER_00]: He found out that he had an older sister named Mary.

3:52[SPEAKER_00]: I know. [SPEAKER_00]: It's crazy. [SPEAKER_00]: And her name started with the letter M. What are the odds? [SPEAKER_00]: It was a bit confusing. [SPEAKER_00]: When my grandmother admitted to putting another kid up for adoption on her deathbed, [SPEAKER_00]: We didn't know she was serious or she was still feeling guilty about marry after all these years. [SPEAKER_00]: But as fate would have it, it turns out shortly after my grandmother passed away this mystery child reached out through the Catholic church wanting to learn about their birth family.

4:21[SPEAKER_00]: At first, my aunts and uncles had a little bit of trepidation. [SPEAKER_00]: Why is this person reaching out now? [SPEAKER_00]: Are they in trouble? [SPEAKER_00]: Do they need money? [SPEAKER_00]: And that's where the story gets kind of crazy because not only was their new brother not in trouble. [SPEAKER_00]: He certainly wasn't struggling for money. [SPEAKER_00]: What's crazy is that they already knew who their new brother was. [SPEAKER_00]: They'd grown up watching him on TV.

4:49[SPEAKER_00]: They'd pictures of him on their wall. [SPEAKER_00]: Their new brother, my new uncle. [SPEAKER_00]: His name was Tim Fully, and he played on the Miami Dolphins' 1972 undefeated team. [SPEAKER_00]: The only undefeated team in the history of the NFL. [SPEAKER_00]: Funny enough, for some reason, Tim was always my grandmother's favorite player. [SPEAKER_00]: And my dad said it would be like turning 46 and finding out that you were related to Tom Brady or Travis Kelsey.

5:20[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's crazy. [SPEAKER_00]: I tell you that because holy shit, that is a secret. [SPEAKER_00]: As a parent, I can't imagine shouldering that up until moments before my death. [SPEAKER_00]: And I also share this with you because that is not the secret that this podcast is about.