I had the privilege to talk to an ABC reporter yesterday about my blog My Family Secrets. It was heartening today to read this Oprah sister story on the ABC news site where the reporter included my thoughts throughout the piece.

It surprised me that Oprah hadn’t known about her half-sister most of her life, which shows the power of secrets, the shame of keeping things quiet. It makes me wonder what secrets swirl around my own life I’m unaware of.

As I pen my next memoir, I’m mired again in this issue. I’m uncovering dead ends. Secrets untold. Mysteries. Perhaps I’ll find out what the truth is. Perhaps not. But as I said in the ABC piece, no matter whether you know the truth or not, you still have the capability to make a choice. You can either move on or dwell unhealthily in the past. The question for me as I dig and unearth is: where will I dwell? Will not knowing keep me tethered to the pain? Or will I concede that I’ll probably never know the secrets and be able to move on accordingly? Tough questions, to be sure.

That’s the central story question of my upcoming novel, The Muir House. Will the truth set you free? Must you know all the truth to be able to move on? I don’t know that I have the answer yet, or if I ever will. It’s one of the tensions of life, one of those wrestlings I can’t seem to let rest.

Nonetheless, I’m thankful Oprah has chosen to move forward in relationship with her half-sister. And I pray that relationship will be a blessing to them both.

If you’re struggling with the past, you might consider my 6-week audio series, Get Past the Past.

Q4u:

What about you? Do you have a family secret that revealed itself? How did that affect you? Is there still a mystery you want to uncover?