Mama Shu: Turning Loss Into Love

Sharing Our Grief

This episode, the season finale, is a reminder that none of us is alone in our grief. Anderson shares some of the thousands of extraordinarily moving voicemail messages he’s received from listeners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

A Son’s Struggle, A Father’s Grief

Charlie Shelin was an exceptionally bright child who worked hard for years to keep the dark thoughts in his head from consuming him. In this moving conversation, his dad, Randy, talks with Anderson about Charlie’s mental health struggles and the layers of grief their family has lived with for years.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Mama Shu: Turning Loss Into Love

Shamayim Harris, known in Detroit as Mama Shu, knows all too well the pain of loss. In 2007 her 2-year-old son Jakobi Ra was killed in a hit and run accident, and in 2021 her other son Chinyelu was murdered. Mama Shu talks with Anderson about how she worked hard to, in her words, “turn my grief into glory and my loss into love.” Focusing on one block in her neighborhood, she began cleaning up blighted properties and has created the non-profit Avalon Village [https://www.theavalonvillage.org/], which aims to be a safe and welcoming space for kids in her community. “This is grief,” she tells Anderson, “it just looks beautiful.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Nicole Chung: Carrying Memories Alone

When best-selling author Nicole Chung’s adoptive parents died, she felt all alone. Her family had unraveled, and there was no one else who remembered what she was like as a little girl. Nicole speaks with Anderson about carrying her parents’ memories alone and the search for her birth parents, which led to a series of surprising discoveries. You can call and leave a message at: (917) 727-6818. We'd especially like to hear if there's something that you've learned in your grief that might help others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Ashley Judd: Grief, Love and Naomi

When Naomi Judd died by suicide in 2022, after a long struggle with mental illness, her daughter Ashley found her. In this deeply moving, revealing, and insightful conversation Ashley Judd talks about the trauma she has worked hard to face, the grief she now feels, and how her mother’s spirit is still very much alive in her life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]