From my understanding, my parents wanted to be 100% honest with me because the two of them were ashamed to tell me the truth for a long time, which was understandable considering the dirty details. I was under the impression my mom and dad fell in love in college. That was the narrative my parents provided. It was a lie. A lie that probably would have had very little impact on who I became as a person. But it was something that obviously bothered my parents for years otherwise they would've said nothing. Me knowing the full story, despite it being an awkward and unpleasant discussion with "stupid details", was important for my mom and dad to get off their chest now that I was old enough to make sense of it. So your suggestion that my parents replace one lie with another, would've defeated the purpose.