I feel a little bit odd answering this question because my until my parents told me what the situation was I had no idea anything was wrong. They were never very affectionate with one another, but neither of them are very affectionate people and they seemed to get along fine for the most part. They had fights like any other couple and I remember hearing my mom leave in the middle of the night after a fight once, but she was back the next morning and everything seemed fine so I didn't think too much of it.

Then, last summer my mom told me that she's gay, and that she only figured this out after her and my dad had gotten married and had kids. She saw a psychologist just so she could talk about it with someone, the psychologist gave her pamphlets for support groups and other resources (which she never used), and my dad found the pamphlets while looking in her bag for something else. I don't know if its just because my brother and I were really young or they were really good at keeping it away from us, but things got very rough for a while after that and I had absolutely no idea anything was wrong. They eventually decide to stay together for me and my brother's sake and pretended everything was the same. I think they more or less found a way to make it work after a while, and they consider themselves friends, but I think its been really hard on both of them.

I had no idea any of this was the case until last summer when my mom broke down and told me. They're still married, and as far as I know, my brother (who still lives with them) has no idea. Its affected my mom more than anyone else, she cried her eyes out when she told me and admitted that the reason she's usually so stoic is because if she didn't shut out all her emotions she'd be a mess all the time. Its fucked me up a little bit and mostly just made me really sad and kind of guilty for existing. I see marriage in general through a different lens now, and I'm a lot more skeptical that its even a good idea for most people. Its hard to remember the happier parts of my childhood without thinking about everything I was oblivious to. I live away from home for school but when I am home with my family it feels odd, like we're all just pretending, especially since my brother is still in the dark. I do understand why they made the decisions they made though, and I try to appreciate my parents more now, knowing what they sacrificed for their kids' sakes.