Hi and welcome to Tell Me What Happened, the
podcast that features true childhood stories
from people from all walks of life. Each week,
our guests will tell us a childhood memory and
then tell us how it impacted their adult view
of the world. I'm your host, Jay Rehak, and like
you, I've had my share of painful childhood experiences.
But I'd like to believe they've helped me to
become a more empathetic person. Tell Me What
Happened is sponsored by Sideline Inc. Publishers.
Publishers of quality books, including Susan
Salador's latest children's book, I've Got Peace
in My Fingers, available worldwide on November
1, 2019. Speaking of Susan Salador, each week
we begin the show with a portion of her classic
song, The Boo Boo Blues, which you can hear playing
underneath my voice right now. Today, I'm honored
to have as my guest, Alina Celeste, an award
-winning children's singer. and renowned YouTuber.
Are you ready to tell your story, Elena? I think
so. All right, well, here's the thing. What I
try to do is keep my mouth shut and listen to
your story. And then afterwards, I'm probably
going to ask you one question. That one question
is going to be, how has it impacted the way you
view the world now as an adult? OK, so I had
to think about this. And I decided that my story
would be about the day I realized my mom was
a person. Because I think a lot of kids, you
know, you go through a period where you suddenly
realize that your parents are just people like
any other person But I am lucky enough to have
an actual day when that happened So, uh, yes,
so I was about I was 15 when this happened so
a little a little backstory my mom and I Definitely
went through a rough patch from like 12 To like
15 or so now 30 years later. I have a few theories
as to why that is I think Mostly we are just
extremely different human beings and I was not
what she ever thought a daughter would be I don't
mean that in a like, you know, I'm not the daughter
that you wanted but you know, it's I wasn't You
know, I just it was more that she had never encountered
a me in a way. So we just had very different
interests and goals. We shared a love of reading.
But other than that, you know, I had no interest
in cooking. I had no interest in gardening. I
had no interest in crafting. I had no interest
in clothes. I had no interest in fashion. I had
no interest in... And I was an introvert. And
she was an extrovert who loved to sew and, you
know, garden and hang out with her friends and
make pretty things. And I just basically rejected
all of that. as ways to spend someone's time.
So I think, you know, we were just at odds a
lot in middle school and such. And then the summer
that I was 15, something changed. Now, I was
personally 11 to 15, I think is probably one
of the hardest periods in any girl's life anyways.
Middle school is the worst. And I was always
an introvert. I always had like one friend, you
know, so that it kind of narrows your world a
little bit. And so the summer that I was 15,
I was a self -centered jerk teenager. So I didn't
really, I couldn't pull my finger on it, but
there was something wrong with my mom. And she
lost 30 pounds in three months. And I never saw
her crying per se, but it sort of felt like she
was crying all the time, if that makes sense.
Like I have no memory of her actually crying.
But I do remember a lot of her sort of being
in the other room in a way that was odd. But
you know, I was self -centered and kind of a
jerk, so, and reading my books alone in my room,
so I wasn't really paying attention. And cut
to this one night, a neighbor, our next door
neighbor, this is a whole other thing, but our
next door neighbor died suddenly in a plane explosion.
Not a plane crash. It was a plane explosion.
It was it was actually a terrorist act. It happened
over Panama and It was it was not on the news
in part for national security But we knew because
he was our next -door neighbor and my mom went
to his funeral and they were nice people We knew
them and I remember she came home from the funeral
and she was sobbing like just absolutely sobbing
like just demoralized. And I remember thinking
like, I mean, he was a nice man, but I feel like
they weren't that close. You know, this wasn't
like a major loss in that sense. Obviously any
loss of life is awful, but she was just a wreck.
And I remember she went to her room and I was
just kind of like, well, what's wrong with mom?
I don't know. And she asked me to come talk to
her in her bedroom. And, you know, I felt bad
for her, you know, I might have been a jerky
teenager, but I still had some empathy, you know,
and she was really just a disaster. And she was
laying on her bed and the room was dark and she
asked me to come talk to her. And so I laid on
the bed with her, just kind of, you know, in
my own like awkward teenage way, thinking presence
counts as sympathy. And so I was just there next
to her and she was crying and she said, you know,
I have to tell you something. And I just, I couldn't.
you know, I was about Vincent, you know, our
neighbor. And she was like, no. When I was 18
years old, and she took this deep breath pause,
and I'll never forget this, in my head, I thought
you had a kid. She goes, I had a baby. And you
know, and I was like, how did I know that? You
know? And I was like, okay. And she said, I had
a son. And you know, I gave him up for adoption.
And he found me three months ago. I just listened,
you know, and she was like, and so that's what's
been going on. And, you know, I just, I have
to tell you because, you know, we're gonna meet
and I think that you should know. And I remember,
you know, she's like, what do you think? And
I just said, that's cool, I guess. You know,
I've always wanted a big brother, because I was
the oldest. I had two younger brothers and I
was like, I thought it'd be cool to have an older
brother. And she was so shocked at my reaction.
And I was like, what? And she said, well, I just
thought that you would think less of me, thought
that you would be disappointed in me or think
that I was, you know, bad or whatever. And I
remember just being like, why? You know, partly
because it was just such a different culture
that I grew up in. My mom grew up in this incredibly,
you know, in the early 60s and it was a very
Catholic family. She was one of eight. She had
no idea how babies were made. She spent a lot
of her early teenage years wanting to be a nun.
And she had her senior year of high school. My
mom was a very shy teenager, which you'd never
think she's such an extrovert, but she was a
very shy, quiet kid. She had learning disabilities
that went undiagnosed and was just beat up by
teachers. And they moved her senior year in high
school to another town. So she was... already
like a shy kid with just a couple friends who
really needed socializing in a way that I had
never needed, you know? I was like, that sounds
awesome! Just you and a bunch of books, you know?
And so they moved to Gainesville and she met
this boy and they were dating and he told her
that you can't possibly get pregnant on the first
time. It doesn't work that way. And she got pregnant.
And she realized that a few months in, she hid
it from her parents for about four months. She
made it about four months until her sister, who
was the wild one, was like, you're pregnant,
aren't you? And her parents found out and they
sent her away through a Catholic charity. She
had to live with a family and clean their house
in exchange for room and board until she had
the baby. And she told me all of this that night.
And she said, because I asked, you know, what
happened, and she said that they had drugged
her, because at the time, so she had my brother
in 1968, so they were still doing that thing
where they knock you out. So they had drugged
her, but my family has notoriously weird reactions
to drugs, and the anesthesia didn't work, and
she woke up mid -labor, which is why she remembers
the labor at all. And they took the baby away,
and I asked her if she'd seen him, and she said
no, they told me to forget that it had happened.
and they said it would be better if I didn't
see the baby. So they they took the baby away
and she went home and everybody pretended that
didn't happen and she didn't tell her brothers
or sisters. A few of them figured it out when
they were older. You know remember that time
you went away for six months kind of thing and
um and 20 I want to say 25 years went by and
she she told my dad she told me because you know
I was like does dad know And she told him when
they first started dating and he said, I don't
care. So she was kind of like, okay. But then
that was it. They basically never spoke of it
again. So 25 years goes by and my brother, the
brother that I discovered then, Don is his name.
Should I say his name? My brother found her.
He'd had a heart issue, which was fixed, but
the doctor had asked him about his... medical
history and he was like, you know, I'm adopted.
So he began this journey at 22 to find her and
it took three years, but he did find her at 25.
She got a call from a Catholic charity that said,
you know, we help children who are adopted find
their birth parents and we have your son. Would
you like to meet him? And she said, okay. And
so that whole summer she was talking to him all
the time and she was, I think, Looking back,
it was probably part of the reason we had such
a hard time because, you know, I was a self -centered,
self -pitying teenager, and here she was essentially
finally processing all those feelings she had
as an 18 -year -old who was alone and pregnant
and, you know, had to give up this baby. So I
think she was kind of a teenager too, you know,
processing her feelings that whole summer and
losing weight and not talking. And she was so
scared that... we, my brothers and I, but that
I would think that she was some kind of like
dirty slut. So she was so, and I remember in
that moment, you know, when she said, I thought
that you would think, you know, that I was dirty
or like not worthy of you or whatever. I remember
thinking like, oh, my mom's just a person, you
know, just like anybody else. And she has this
nickname in her family, St. Cecilia. Because
she's a she's like she would give you the clothes
off her You know, just the clothes off her back
is like such a trope, but it's such a stereotype.
But yes Oh my god, she she'll drop anything for
anyone always so she was so good and here I was
this like kind of ornery Cranky kid, you know
who like didn't want to play with the other kids
a lot And so here was my mom who everybody loved
she was so nice and she was so pretty and she
did all these things So well, and so it was like
oh she makes mistakes she made a mistake. And
I didn't like judge her. I didn't think she was
like bad for that. But I was just like, that's
so cool. You know, she makes mistakes. And she's
just a person with this whole history that had
just never occurred to me, you know, that she
had a life before she was my mother, you know,
full of ridiculousness and mistakes. And it's
not that she hadn't told me stories about her
life before then, but somehow they were sort
of like fairy tale stories. You know, like my
dad is Cuban. He used to tell us these stories
about him as a child in Cuba and it was it's
literally like fairyland You know, and so all
of a sudden he was this real -world thing with
consequences she was gonna go meet him which
is why she finally felt like she had to tell
us and It was happening. It was a real thing
with proof, you know, it was like proof So that
was a day. I realized that my mom was a person
and after that for many years. We became extremely
close somehow knowing that Helped us bridge our
other differences in personality. Yeah, and so
from then on Yeah, I had a lot less issues with
my mom and and what's it called at the end of
the book the Starts with an e Epitaph epitaph
epitaph the epitaph is we met my brother Don.
It's now been 25 years since I met him and We're
all close to him. When I first met him, I was
15 and he was 25. So he felt like a cool uncle,
you know, but now I'm 40 and he's 50. And he
really does feel like a brother. Like, it's kind
of weird that I don't have any childhood memories
of him, you know? But yeah, he's just, he's my
brother Don. And my dad accepted him and loved
him. And we're all, my mom and my brother, super
close. We joke all the time, the three of us.
Are a lot more like my dad and his side of the
family and my brother Don who was not raised
by my mother is so much like my mom They're just
really alike. They have all these weird little
quirks that they share And their personalities,
you know, Don is just as generous as my mom with
his time and with his love So but yeah, we all
get along but that was the day that was a day.
I found out that my mom was a person It was a
beautiful story I mean, I really didn't know
where it was gonna go. And I was trying to stay
out of it reaction -wise because my audience
knows that I don't want to be part of the story,
I just want to listen. But I do have to ask you
now, how do you think it's impacted your life
as an adult? I would say that that was one of
my most profound lessons in terms of other human
beings and how everybody has a history and a
story that you don't know about. You know we
all carry with us this massive story, and it's
something that I'm always aware of when I meet
other people I think it's helped me to be more
kind Because usually when people have like weird
negative reactions. I almost never take it personally
Because I don't know what's going on with them
You know and my reaction is often to be like
oh that poor person is probably unhappy instead
of what a jerk you know or I mean let's be fair
sometimes I say what a jerk, but For the most
part, it's made me very interested in the stories
of others and very aware that we all carry with
us all kinds of stories and baggage and history
and assumptions that guide us, that are invisible.
I think that has profoundly affected my life.
I believe it has. I know you to be a very kind
person. I want to thank you for sharing your
story with us. It was a beautiful story. Thank
you. I will carry with me St. Cecilia. With me
that for a while Well, that's it for this week's
tell me what happened. I hope you enjoyed the
story. I certainly did I'm gonna end this week's
show a little bit differently. I'm gonna end
it with an Alina Celeste song entitled Stardust
Thanks again for listening and as always Stay
safe out there and try not to hurt anybody We're
all just a little piece of stardust We're all
just a little piece of sky And if we ever should
be parted I'll look up and see a piece of you
and I If you should ever feel lonely If you should
feel you're not alright Just look into the quiet
night sky The stars will shine till things are
bright Cause we're all just a little piece of
stardust We're all just a little piece of the
sky And if we ever should be parted I'll look
up to see a piece of you and I Long, long ago,
the sky came alive The light was an ocean, the
ocean was life And all the universe was bright
Night made day and day made night Oh, the world
will always go on turning And life will often
be a fight will also go on burning wherever there
is dark there will be a light If you should feel
you're not alright Just look into the quiet night
sky The stars will shine till things are bright
We're all just a little piece of stardust We're
all just a little piece of sky And if we ever
should be parted To see a piece of you and I
Just look up to see a piece of you and I