12 Stories From People Whose Iives Are Like Roller Coasters

3 weeks ago

Sometimes in our ordinary lives, stories happen that take your breath away. And while screenwriters puzzle over the idea for a new movie, we read the stories of the heroes of our article and never cease to be amazed at the twists and turns of the plot.

I worked at this company for five years and thought I was doing well. Then a new manager came in, didn’t like me, and I got laid off. I was crushed, but it lit a fire under me.
I freelanced, then started my own thing with two friends. We built fast. Grew faster.
One day, I got an application—his name was right there. He didn’t recognize me at first in the interview. But I definitely recognized him.
We hired him. He’s good at his job. But yeah—he reports to me now.

My cousin passed in a motorcycle accident. A loving father of two. His widow asked me to help her look through his computer. But I found something shocking. Turns out my cousin had a mistress.
I found a secret email account through which he was messaging his mistress, and his inbox was filled with “Are you okay? What is going on?” messages.
So I wrote her an email explaining, with a link to the obituary and newspaper article. She came to the funeral but didn’t say anything. Introduced herself as a coworker. I removed all evidence from the computer before giving it back to the widow to preserve the memory of this guy to his wife and kids. © NocturnalCoder / Reddit

Was dating a guy. At some point decided to break up. And 5 hours later I saw on social media that he changed his status to “engaged” and gave the name of a girl who I thought was just a friend. And she in turn uploaded a photo of the ring with the caption: “He finally proposed, I said yes”. © MiloMolly / Reddit

My grandmother has always been mean to her oldest daughter (my mom’s sister). She would constantly belittle and criticize her. Even when I was a kid, I thought she was being so mean to her for no reason at all. I just assumed she played favorites with her children to an extreme degree.
When I was about 20, I learned that my grandmother had conceived my aunt out of wedlock, before meeting and marrying my grandfather. She was mean to her because she didn’t like being reminded of that part of her past.
I had already lost respect for her when I thought she was being mean to my aunt for no reason. When I found out the real reason, I lost even more respect for her. © uh_oh_hotdog / Reddit

I’ve been engaged for over a year. We planned a lavish wedding, but broke up a month before the big day. It was awful. I canceled everything except the venue. Then I found out that my younger sister was secretly engaged to her fiancé. But they couldn’t afford a big wedding. She asked, half-joking, if they could use my setup. I said yes, trying to be mature, but it hurt.
I watched her walk down the aisle I had designed for my day. The decorations, the flowers, even the playlist—mine. Everyone said it was beautiful. I smiled. Then cried in the parking lot.

Once in elementary school we were asked to bring in photos of our relatives from the early 20th century. My friend brought a picture of his great-great-grandfather and his wife. One girl also brought a picture of her great-great-grandfather and his wife. The teacher was amazed at how similar the men in both pictures looked. She put the pictures side by side. There was no doubt: it was the same man! It turned out that this great-great-grandfather was secretly married to two women, and my friend and my classmate turned out to be relatives. © meditatorBear / Reddit

My in-laws passed in a car accident a few years ago. While I was helping my wife clean out their house, I found a bunch of my late mother-in-law’s journals. They included details about the affairs she had while she was married to both of her husbands, as well as her suspicion that my wife’s sister was the product of one affair.
My wife and I are the only ones who know. © molten_dragon / Reddit

Through a DNA service, I was contacted by someone claiming to be my first cousin, but I didn’t recognize the name. It turns out this cousin was put up for adoption at birth years ago by my aunt. My aunt had only confided in my mother, who told me after I started digging to figure out how we were related.
Now, my aunt is horrified that I found out about her child and avoids me at all costs during family gatherings. © never_mind_its_me / Reddit

I found out from my mum’s friend’s brother that my dad has a secret family. Apparently, he cheated on my mum repeatedly with different women a few years ago and now has an entirely new family that he has never met. None of us are supposed to know about this.
I have 6 siblings (7 of us in total) and apparently even more siblings. I don’t know if I’ve passed them in the street, at work, or if I need to do background checks on any romantic partners in case they might be a sibling...so yeah, thanks, Dad. © Fabulous-Dark / Reddit

8 days after my wife, 42, passed, I got a notification of a charge from our joint bank account. It was from a car rental.
Like crazy, I rushed there and showed her photo to the clerk. He turned pale and said, “This woman was here. She came here and stayed for a while until she chose a nice car. She was with a younger guy, someone in his early thirties.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Then he added, “This is for you.” I froze when he gave me her wedding ring.
It turns out my wife faked everything. She had been in love with her co-worker for the past year and had been planning to leave me. She knew the divorce would take a long time, so she decided to run away with this guy instead.
My entire world was shattered. I know she’ll regret it eventually—but I won’t be there when she comes back.

A mother-in-law wakes up in the night and feels someone lying behind her back. Her husband was at work. She begins to have a panic attack. Barely alive with fear, she turns around and sees a strange man in front of her. Suddenly, this stranger begins to open his eyes. Seeing her mother-in-law in front of him, he is as frightened as she is. And then the mother-in-law hears that the door creaked — it was her husband who came from work. She grabs the man and drags him into the next bedroom. She barely makes it back in time. She couldn’t prove anything to her jealous husband later. Her father-in-law fell asleep, and she went to find out who the guy was. Turns out it was her daughter’s boyfriend. In a fit of romantic feelings, he decided to climb through her window. Except the ladder was attached to the in-laws’ bedroom. © Podslushano / Ideer