People Anonymously Divulge The Secrets They Plan To Take To The Grave

As much as we might not want to, most of us have some secrets that we'd rather not tell.

But there are two kinds of people when it comes to long-term secrets: those who intend to take those secrets to the grave, no exceptions, and those who'd rather say, "Well, cat's outta the bag!"

Fortunately for us, AskReddit lets us have a little bit of both worlds.

Popcorn at the ready, Redditor just_a_dude5001 asked:

"What's one thing that you will take to the grave, but can tell internet strangers?"

Stolen Funds

"My cousin has stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars from the company he works for because they are headquartered in another country and just approve every 'expense' he submits. He's a nice guy, though."

- BigRedCowboy

"That happened at my company, and they realized only after the person was fired (for different reasons)."

"This person was in charge of transferring money into one of the company bank accounts, and every fifth payment or so, they would transfer the funds to their own account."

"My company didn’t press charges because of the hassle it would be to open the books and prove the missing money."

- Sad_Couple_2337

A Long-Term Affair

"I caught my mom cheating on my dad when I was a teenager."

"She told me that if I told my dad, he would leave her, and us (me and my siblings), and it would be all my fault if he did."

"So I never said anything."

"As an adult, I realize it wouldn’t have been my fault, and while my dad may have left HER, he wouldn’t have left me."

"My dad died a few years ago, and I still regret not telling him."

"I don’t talk to my mom anymore."

- No_Hyena8479

"You don't have a thing to regret. Your mother quite literally threatened you, a CHILD, into not telling your dad about her adultery."

"She's the piece of s**t. You did nothing wrong. Everybody in these comments would agree, I'm sure."

- mistermaster

Crippling Grief

"My father died of leukemia, but before I knew his diagnosis, he had a massive bleed on his brain for a second time."

"I had to carry him down the stairs, and I accidently bumped his head off the door frame, and from that moment that happened to the last three days he was alive, he never talked once as he lost the ability to talk and was gasping for air till he passed away."

"Ever since I bumped his head by accident, it feels like I am responsable for making his death faster, and the guilt is eating me inside, but now if I think about it, if I had not bumped his head, would he still be alive and suffered more from his Lukemia for more than three days?"

"I'm still missing him is an understatement, but I feel like I let him down at the end of his life. No one else knows about this, and I am 100% taking this to the grave with me."

- Brustkle1984

"I know the complexity and depth of grief of losing a father."

"But, as a neuroscientist with substantial focus on speech, it's vanishingly unlikely that you would have had any negative influence here. Speech issues after a bleed on the brain are super common, so much of the cortex is involved in planning or producing speech, and substantial damage to those areas can be really deleterious to speech production. It happened to my granddad, my niece, and now two friends of mine."

"For a hit to the head to cause that sort of impairment, it would have to be substantial... like... doing it deliberately would be very effortful."

"But I understand how like... vulnerable it feels to try and care for someone in substantial decline. It almost feels like it's better to take blame or 'what if' the situation after the fact because maybe that's just more comforting than the idea that maybe things like this are just going to happen no matter what."

"You cared, and that's the best thing in the world. Hope you still hold on to that bit."

- Huwbacca

Not A Basketball Star

"When I was 12, I catfished a NYT reporter into believing I was a college basketball star. I did an interview over AIM."

"It was published. Nothing ever came of it."

"He contacted me first, based on my username and profile. I assumed he was every bit as fake as I was and just went with it."

- tyedge

"Journalist here… That’s not on you; that’s on him. Verifying the identity of sources is one of the top priorities, if not the very top, in this field."

"I’ve worked for a handful of news outlets over the last 15ish years, and I would’ve been fired from each one if I published a story without verifying who I was talking to."

- TomNookOwnsUsAll

Monetary Gifts

"My wife goes apes**t any time her dying father gives money to people because she thinks they're taking advantage of him. Her dad is upset with this because he has money (and can't take it with him), and he won't admit it, but he feels useless because he can't help and wants to reciprocate however he can."

"I've been accepting money from him behind her back, for his benefit and ours."

- Theslumberqueen

"Just be careful, man. If she’s feeling that way and knows you know it, she might go even harder at you if she finds out you’re 'taking advantage of him' and hiding it."

"I totally get what you mean, though. Sometimes, it’s an insult to refuse gifts, and sometimes, when money is all a person can do to help, accepting it can help them get over feelings of uselessness or being a burden on others."

"Hope it all works out for you and your family."

- Cheese_Pancakes

"This is a man who's never accepted favours his whole life. For a bunch of people to come over and clean out his whole house before the possession date, and he gives nothing back, that's a problem."

"I'm working on my wife, short of telling her. I believe this is a crazy grief reaction given its intensity, and I've been working on getting her to accept that it helps his conscience to pay for things people buy him."

- Theslumberqueen

Be Careful What You Wish For

"I'm finally studying what I wanted, and I f**king hate it."

"...It's veterinary."

- Natataya

"Honestly, same. It is not a career to go into feeling that way because it will drag you under. I found out the hard way post-graduation working at an animal shelter. Your love of animals does not need to manifest in medicine."

- MakuaDog

"Vets are at extremely high risk of suicide because of how much they love animals and the trauma of having to put animals down, horrible owners, treatable injuries people can't afford, etc."

"I considered it for awhile. But I knew that having to euthanize animals regularly would destroy me. I love my dogs, and I'm happy with that."

"You're doing selfless work. I commend you."

- Turbulent_Juice_Man

Mama!

"Father of multiple kids with my wife of 30 years. My wife believes her oldest daughter said 'mama' first (before saying 'dada')."

"All of the others said 'dada' first."

"The truth is, she said 'dada' first when I was alone from her, but I secretly worked with her to say 'mama.' My wife is so proud of the fact her daughter said 'mama' first. I will never, EVER, tell anyone this in real life. Taking it to my grave."

- SlappyToppyJalloppy

True On Paper

"I never actually finished college… I got close enough to finishing that I walked the stage with friends and family watching. However, I never completed like two remaining courses for the degree."

"My first big job after that ‘required’ that I have a degree, but just took my word for it and never checked. I’ve moved on too far in life that I don’t really want to bring it up. My wife and family and friends all think I have a college degree."

- Dwight_The_Fish

"You could totally finish it on the down-low. Take online classes, and make it so it's true instead of something weighing on you!"

- AkiraTheMouse

Her Sister's Husband

"I've become best friends with my sister's husband over the years of them dating and getting married, and I honestly wouldn't know what to do without a friend like him in my life."

"But I think she is terrible for him in many ways, including the way she treats him, and I think she has significantly held him back in life, and he could be much further along in life and career if it wasn't for her being dead weight."

"I've never told anyone this."

- titwhip69

"Yikes! That’s a tough spot to be in. Does he seem happy, though? Maybe he is content and doesn’t have the desire to further his career. If he isn’t happy, then maybe telling him wouldn’t be so bad, but if he is happy, then you have to let it be."

- hashbrownsinketchup

"I would agree with content at most times but not necessarily happy."

- titwhip69

"Something I learned over the years... yeah, this happens a lot. But if she is that terrible to him, you owe it to your sibling to call them out. Gently, don't be a d**k, but be honest."

"Family needs to rely on each other to hold themselves accountable. If the roles were reversed, you'd want your sibling to do the same, no?"

- BeefInGR

The First Firsts

"I’ve had multiple kids in my care (as a nanny) hit big milestones while mom and dad are away at work."

"I’ve never told them unless it was a safety hazard (i.e. the baby rolls over and is still swaddled for sleep, the baby pulls up to stand and the crib is not lowered)."

"Taking all those first rolls, first steps, first 'mamas' to the grave."

- Both-Tell-2055

"Our kid was at nursery quite a lot. One time, while picking him up, I was told, 'We think he's nearly ready to start walking.'"

"I knew they'd seen his first steps. I still enjoyed his first steps with me, if you see what I mean."

- Schumarker

Saving Neglected Pets

"When I was in high school, my neighbor got her three-year-old a puppy for her birthday, but the poor thing was neglected and abused by the whole family."

"One day, after they left her outside for hours, I took matters into my own hands. I stole her and took her to my aunt’s next-door neighbor a couple of towns over, who spoiled her rotten."

- Happilyme16

"Stealing neglected pets to bring them to a good home is always morally justified."

"One thing that really made me respect my dad was what he said to me when I started pushing carts at Publix as a teenager."

"We lived in South Florida, where it is unsafe to leave a pet or child in the car for more than a few minutes 90% of the year. He told me if I ever saw a dog locked in a hot car and couldn’t find the owner, to break the window and he’d bail me out of any trouble I got into."

- Scratch_That

A Mother's Rings

"When my mom thought she was dying, she took off all her rings and gave them to me. I gave them back when she recovered. A month later, when she actually died, I removed the rings from her cold fingers in the ER and kept them."

"They’re the only material things I have from her, as I donated the proceeds from my share of her estate. They’re not terribly valuable, but they’re priceless to me."

"My brother asked if I knew what had happened to them so he could sell them with the rest of her estate. I lied. I don’t think he’d care now, but the lie is out there."

- SemperAliquidNovi

A Successful Business

"I've run my own business for almost two decades and have people call me for help and advice on business often. I have no training, education, and absolutely no idea what the h**l I'm doing."

- bucklehead

"If you've successfully run a business for almost 20 years, you definitely know what you're doing. Don't sell yourself short. That's something to be proud of."

- RedShiftRunner

A Grandmother's Keys

"My grandmother lived with us when I was growing up. When I got my driver's license, I had to share a car with her."

"One time, I was trying to back out of a really tight spot and scraped the car next to me, I did a hit and run and never told anyone about it. When my parents saw the scrape on our car, they asked both of us about it, and I denied knowing anything."

"My grandmother also denied it, of course, but because she was old (88 at the time), my parents assumed she did it and forgot (we later determined she was actually developing alzheimers), which caused a huge fight and caused them to take her keys away and not let her drive anymore."

"I never told anyone and got sole use of the car for myself (with the stipulation that I needed to drive her to church every week or anywhere else she wanted to go)."

"This happened about 25 years ago, and she passed a few years later. Sometimes I think she would have lived longer if she still had her independence."

- Brunurb1

Christmas

"My bestie became a single mom many years ago. That first Christmas she was divorced, I snuck a bunch of small gifts for her under her tree. I never fessed up all these years, but I wanted her to feel special."

- New-Chemical9505

"Stop making me not hate Christmas!"

- FBIsorry

From knowing about stolen funds and resisting justice to keeping someone's heart out of harm's way by not telling them that that compliment that one time was unwarranted, there was a whole range of big and small secrets here.

No matter the size of the secret, though, sometimes it helps to set the burden down, even in an anonymous comment section.