145 – Tommy Davidson, Living In Color – What’s Funny About Me
Comedian television and film actor, and all around entertainer. Tommy Davidson has seen it all. He launched his comedy career in the Washington DC area. Capitalizing on his innate ability to entertain people and make them bust out in laughter. But his earliest days were grounded in trauma that as an adoptee, he didn’t face until…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode144 – Gullah Girl
Brandi, who called me from myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is an inquisitive person adopted in to a family with a history of scholars, which is rare for a black family in the south. DNA led Brandi to a cousin who was determined to help her figure out their biological connection and which of two men…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode143 – He Really Stepped Up
When Susan, from Irving, Texas, found her natural mother, she learned she was conceived in transit when two young lives collided, then never saw one another again. Her birth mother’s life seemed too chaotic the women to make a deeper connection. The woman ended things abruptly when Susan didn’t behave the way she wanted. Susans’s…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode142 – “American Baby”, Gabrielle Glaser
David, and his birth mother Margaret’s story of adoption relinquishment, lives lived apart but close to one another, and their brief emotional reunion is told in the book, “American Baby”, written by New York Times Best Selling Author, Gabrielle Glaser. Gabrielle first met David while he was on kidney dialysis awaiting a transplant where he shared…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode141 – That Wasn’t The Real Me
Gloria called me from Texas where she grew up with Mexican parents. In younger days she tried to find the ways she looked like her family. In adulthood, following the whim of some co-workers, Gloria did a DNA test naive to what it could possibly reveal. In a matter of months she was plunged into…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode140 – I Wanted To Be My True Self
Darryl, from Australia, admits he had a challenging childhood from his relationship with his adoptive father, to their family’s need to move around a lot because they were so poor, and his experience learning he is a late discovery adoptee. Darryl describes himself as a person for whom the truth is very important, so as…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode139 -A Sense Of Peace And Calm
Wendy, from Minnesota, had a lot of information about her natural mother and assumed the woman would want to know her, but that wasn’t the case. They corresponded once, solely for her natural mother to share clinical information, then the door closed. Wendy said finding her paternal sister Jen, a woman she could have met years…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode138 – She Never Thought She Would See Me Again
Marilyn called me from Southeast Tennessee. When she met her natural mother, she finally learned the story of what the woman had been through as the pieces of 50 years of history returned to her memory. Maryilyn admits she didn’t have a huge void to fill in seeking reunion but that being in reunion has…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode058 – I Feel Like I’ve Found My Tribe
Nicole was adopted into a military family, the structure of which ran against her freewheeling nature. She’s an interracial woman with interracial adopted parents, so they looked like a natural family. In reunion, Nicole is facing secondary rejection from her birth mother, but her maternal grandparents and uncle have accepted her with open arms. She’s learned that…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode020 – I Don’t Silence Julie Anymore
Michelle says growing up she felt very different from her adoptive family because she looked completely different from them. When she was a teen she embarked on a voyage to reunite with her birth mother, traveling back to the UK where she was born. Seeking some of the basic answers to her identity and acceptance by her biological…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode061 – I Know They May Not Love Me…
Stephanie grew up in a very wealthy family in South Carolina and you’ll hear discuss the family’s fortune, but pause before you pass judgment on how easy life must have been. Her story is filled with manipulative behavior, malicious intentions, and a foundation created from lies. You’ll also hear Stephanie’s intelligence and tenacity to get her…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode074 – I Feel Some Of It Too
Serena told me she had a similar experience to what a lot of adoptees feel, even though she grew up with her birth mother. I’m always talking about empathizing with others, so I wanted to hear her story. Serena told me about her birth on a Native American reservation in Arizona then her mother moving away. She was adopted by…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode053 – Seeing The Life That Could Have Been
Meredith had enough adoptees around her growing up that adoption was no big deal. Yet, her parents never felt comfortable actually discussing adoption. After getting pregnant, and spurred on by her mother-in-law’s intuition that Meredith wanted answers, she started searching. When her social worker found her biological parents, they were married with children. Her reunion…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode013 – It Wasn’t That He Didn’t Care, He Cared Too Much
Jennifer learned that she was adopted when she was six years old. Interestingly, her adopted parents shared a letter with her that was written by her biological mother whose instructions were that Jennifer should have it when they felt she was ready. In fact, her parents had an entire package of detailed information about her…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode072 – Amazing Intuition, One Cousin Connection
Recalling her early family life, Ann said she felt like her parents were sucked into feeling like they had to have a family, and while they were focused on creating a better world in their professional lives, that didn’t necessarily translate to their home life. She always had the feeling her parents cared more about appearances…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode097 – You Gotta Forgive
James called me from right up the road in Laurel, Maryland and we have one degree of separation with one of my adoptive father, Willie’s, friends. In his story you’ll hear his struggle to find himself and an identity as a youth in a family that didn’t look like him. It took him years to find his voice…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode029 – A Lifetime of Interveners Saw Me Through
Born in the Panama Canal Zone, Stephanie was adopted by a US military family stationed there in 1961. She was never told she was adopted, but she always knew there was a family secret. When she was 43 years old Stephanie discovered the secret was her own adoption. Because she was born in the Panama Canal…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode041 – I’ve Finally Gotten Myself To A Sense Of Peace
After two years in foster care, Janet was adopted into the foster family. An interracial woman, she grew up in a white midwestern community in Ohio. Janet recalls the love she felt from her family and the isolation of being one of two people of color in her town. Through the International Soundex Reunion Registry (ISRR.net) she…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episodeGoodbye 2020
Listen, I can’t even pretend it was easy to podcast during what has been an absolutely crazy year. Before I sign off season 7 I need to cover a few things. I’m grateful to be able to say thank you to some wonder folks who’ve committed to supporting the Who Am I Really podcast this year.…
Press the Play button to Listen to this episode137 – Searching For Mom
Sara, from Seattle, Washington, was an over achiever adoptee who was secretly struggling and going off the rails. She intentionally avoided babies until her sister gave birth.. and having kids of her own drove home just how precious babies are. Sara feared reunion would literally kill her adoptive mother. But in reunion she finally heard from her biological mother that…
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