111 – This Is What I Hoped You’d Be Like - a podcast by Damon L. Davis

Ginger who lives in Los Angeles, began her reunion journey as a teenager who found her birth mother, saw her picture, emailed her, but never made the leap to meeting the woman. In adulthood Ginger had given birth to twins who emotionally impacted her and reminded her of the story of her own birth shared by her birth mother via email many years before, so she resurrected their relationship. This episode is unique because we captured Ginger’s story in the lead up to her cross country reunion, then we followed up shortly after to see how things were in the aftermath of hours spent face to face with her birth mother. This is Ginger’s journey.
Ginger (https://www.temi.com/editor/t/l1Si2RVKozjg3qkjYQhvmU8jLGXb2a0sqv6yx4jGwK2AnMAjxUnZ6SdVBB48XYrXn4CkIccVTOgnGfiPuNuG2AaDWtc?loadFrom=SharedLinkandts=5.12 (00:05)):
And I sent it to her and she wrote back and said, you have no idea what you have done for me. You have just uncapped 34 years of guilt and shame and made me feel so much better. And she asked me, would you be willing to, to meet and I said, Oh yeah, I definitely would.
Damon (https://www.temi.com/editor/t/l1Si2RVKozjg3qkjYQhvmU8jLGXb2a0sqv6yx4jGwK2AnMAjxUnZ6SdVBB48XYrXn4CkIccVTOgnGfiPuNuG2AaDWtc?loadFrom=SharedLinkandts=31.01 (00:31)):
Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? This is who am I really a podcast about adoptees that have located and connected with their biological family members. I'm Damon Davis and on today's show is Ginger who lives in Los Angeles. Her reunion started as a teenager who found her birth mother emailed her, but never made the leap to meeting the woman in adulthood. Ginger had given birth to twins who emotionally impacted her and reminded her of the story of her own birth shared by her birth mother many years before. So she resurrected their relationship. This episode is unique because we captured Ginger's story in the lead up to her cross country reunion. Then after to see how things were in the aftermath of an hour, spent face to face with her birth mother. This is Ginger's journey.
Damon (https://www.temi.com/editor/t/l1Si2RVKozjg3qkjYQhvmU8jLGXb2a0sqv6yx4jGwK2AnMAjxUnZ6SdVBB48XYrXn4CkIccVTOgnGfiPuNuG2AaDWtc?loadFrom=SharedLinkandts=97.34 (01:37)):
Back in the summer of 2019, I was sitting on a plane ready for takeoff. When I checked email one last time before setting my phone on airplane mode, I found an email from Ginger who said she was meeting her birth mother in a few days. And she knew there was only going to be one chance to capture herself in the version of who she was before reunion. So she hoped we could record before and after interviews. I immediately recognized that she was absolutely right. We are different people before reunion, then we are after. So I emailed her back to say, yes, she admitted she had been listening to who am I really a lot in the days leading up to her reunion,
Ginger (https://www.temi.com/editor/t/l1Si2RVKozjg3qkjYQhvmU8jLGXb2a0sqv6yx4jGwK2AnMAjxUnZ6SdVBB48XYrXn4CkIccVTOgnGfiPuNuG2AaDWtc?loadFrom=SharedLinkandts=141.14 (02:21)):
I was listening to it thinking, Oh my gosh, all these things are going through my mind about like, what's about to happen. And this is like an interesting spot to be in like that I'm in right now. And I won't have this spot anymore after this weekend. It's like, my life is going to be like before and after this weekend, it's going to be like, I'm a, I'm going to be a different person with different views. So I'm like, I shouldn't, I don't know. I just want to record and like tell the story like, as it happens so that, uh, the emotions are raw.
Damon (https://www.temi.com/editor/t/l1Si2RVKozjg3qkjYQhvmU8jLGXb2a0sqv6yx4jGwK2AnMAjxUnZ6SdVBB48XYrXn4CkIccVTOgnGfiPuNuG2AaDWtc?loadFrom=SharedLinkandts=175.4 (02:55)):
Since I was traveling, I didn't have my normal recording setup. So I spoke to Ginger
Damon...

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