Belonging with Michelle Miller

This week I welcomed the award-winning journalist and co-host of CBS Saturday Morning Michelle Miller back to the podcast! Michelle returns to dive deeply into the story she began telling us when she last joined the podcast: how she was raised by her paternal grandmother, her father and family friends after her mother abandoned her at birth. Michelle’s memoir,  Belonging: A Daughter’s Search for Identity Through Loss and Love,  chronicles the gripping story of growing up with a mother whom she knew about, had met on occasion, but who refuses to this day to publicly acknowledge her existence.

I was eager to explore this story with Michelle, and hear how her feelings towards her mother and the choices she made shifted during different phases of her life. Understandably, the birth of her oldest child triggered a new wave of pain and angst as her mother refused to engage even after learning of the birth of her only biological grandchild. 
 

That all changed when I had my own kid and I sent her a notice about it. She didn't answer the notice, and when I eventually spoke to her, she didn't even ask about my son and waxed on about her step granddaughter… I was hurt because I thought, okay, well, you didn't have a shot with me, but here is your grandchild. You have no other children by blood. And so that was also a clue for me that blood alone does not make a parent. — Michelle Miller
 

Michelle speaks candidly and openly about her journey to acceptance of her mother’s choices, and how that journey continues.   Michelle also shared the lessons learned from being raised by a village of family and friends, and her efforts to create a similarly supportive village when she had her own two children. Listen to Belonging with Michelle Miller, out today! And be sure to pick up her memoir which has just been released!

Thanks to Paramount, Seneca Women Podcast Network and iHeart for their support, and to YOU for listening!

Enjoy,

Carol