Message in a Bottle

In the concluding episode of this podcast, I share some final thoughts for my daughter. Thank you for following along on this journey.While you've reached the end of this podcast, you can also follow me on Facebook or Instagram (@therealbennyman) for the latest updates on my dear Amelia.

Meet the parents, as my wife Abigail joins me for a special conversation. We talk first impressions, how we knew that we were the one for each other, planning a multicultural wedding, processing pregnancy news, and raising a biracial child. Don't miss the special message for grown-up Amelia at the end!

It is hard to talk about circumstances surrounding my daughter's birth without mentioning the one thing that seems to have taken over all our lives. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world forever and I wanted to let Amelia know what life was like in the early months. Special guest Jenin Joseph joins me as we talk about the initial response to the outbreak, adjustments that we've all had to make, unique challenges faced by healthcare providers, impact on mental health and how the pandemic has changed parenting for the foreseeable future.

In this episode, I get personal and reflect on what holds my life together. To talk through the different facets of faith and its role in our lives, I'm joined by special guest Jake Fleming. We talk about what faith means to us, the difference between religion and faith, differing journeys to find God, advice to future generations and even attempt to answer the age-old question: why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?

In this episode, I talk about the city where Amelia was born. Special guest Rachel Lacy joins me as we recall how we ended up in Charlottesville, discuss the sense of belonging that we strive to find, try to make sense of recent events that put the city in the international spotlight and share the nature of the work that binds us to this place.

In this episode, I get into the immigrant experience that continues to shape the future of the United States. Special guest Krithika Suresh joins me as we compare our immigrant stories, recall our first impressions of the United States, and discuss juggling our feelings between the country of our origin and the country we have settled down in. We also talk about our approach to interacting with people from different cultures, role models in our immigrant community, and our approach to handling discrimination.

In this episode, I delve into the importance of good friendships and the ways they influence our lives. Special guest Anu Madan joins me to talk about first impressions of each other, the friendships that impact us, handling different personality types in friendships, and heightened need to look out for each other in these uncertain times. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dear-amelia/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dear-amelia/support

To kick off the show, I take a short trip down memory lane to revisit moments starting from the day I found out that I was going to become a father, all the way to the birth of my daughter Amelia. Along with special guest Aravind Raghavan, I explore our personal attitudes towards fatherhood, reminisce the first moments of our children's birth, discuss the rationale behind our choice of names for our children, discuss the challenge of raising second generation Americans and the invaluable role of our spouses in parenting.

--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dear-amelia/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dear-amelia/support