Sins of the Father

I have several younger brothers. One day I received a call from one of them. He told me that he found an email to my father from a woman who was not our mother and wanted to know why it said those things. I don't remember the specifics of the email, but it was inappropriate, flirty, and obviously there was something going on. My brother was worried about it, and I didn't want him to worry, so I told him that is how people talk to their friends sometimes and that it was no big deal. Inside, I was worried. I never brought it up with my parents. The day after revelation we called my parents. They came over, and I told them what I had done. I wanted to come clean with them. They wanted to tell my other brothers so that they could learn from the example, but we weren't ready for that yet. After that point, my mother began speaking to Therese on a more regular basis and giving her more information. One thing we found out was that my father has had multiple affairs throughout their marriage. He treated my wife and his kids poorly for a long time - but we never knew before the specifics of why he was always so tough on us. We also found out at this point that my father had seen his mother (my grandmother) in a compromising position with one of his classmates when he was a teenager. Needless to say, this was all hard information for me to take in. I truly believe that if I had known the sins of my family, I may have been better prepared for all of this or prepared for this temptation. Obviously this kind of thing has run through the generations of my family. I don't blame my affair on my family or father, but I certainly wished they had told me this is something our family has had a problem with. And to this day, they refuse to talk about it with any of their other children. Dad thinks the boys will think less of him. Somehow, though, they think the boys knowing about me would be a good thing. It is this kind of double standard, among other things, that has made us struggle with my parents since revelation.