An Adoption Memoir with Susan Ito

Join us for a wonderful discussion with author and performer Susan Kiyo Ito about her new adoption memoir, I Would Meet You Anywhere. This is a book adoptive parents should read!

In this episode, we cover:

It felt like much of the tension between you and your birth mother was due to her desire to keep you a secret and your desire to be seen. And also her desire to be in control of this relationship.
The harsh reality is that adoption reunions between adoptees and birth families can be fraught with lots of conflicting emotions. In the book I Would Meet You Anywhere, you describe this tension. “Once again, I was the secret held by our mother. I was wilting under the weight of all the not telling. Still, I couldn’t resist Yumi’s siren call. I would crash on the rocks of her.” You had to work really hard to nurture this relationship.
It’s not about us—the adoptive parents. It was your quest to be whole. Talk with us about your relationship with your parents—your adoptive parents –and yet still feeling a longing to understand and connect with your biological parents and roots.
Did reunion change your concept of what family is?
Primal wound.
Why is the phrase “You’re so lucky” so off the mark, even for someone like you who had what seems like a loving, not idyllic, but fine upbringing?
You were raised by Japanese American parents, but you sometimes felt not Japanese enough because of your white biological father. How have you made meaning out of your “biracialness”?
The importance of being in community with other adopted people.
Has your birth mother read the book, and if so, has it impacted your relationship?