"...It’s a whole different world…." My brother Rosario is definitely right. I listen back to some of these stories and think WOW what we were going thru and hiding from the world…? And then I think WOW what must you listeners be thinking? LOL

While there’s much more to this podcast – so much more than I thought I’d break it up into two episodes – I’m pausing this first part to comment on a few things, the biggest of which is PERSPECTIVE. As much as I have always known that each person’s perspective is unique to them, I guess that for some reason, I didn’t think that applied so much to my brother and our upbringing and dealing with the mental illness in our family. From my brother’s memories, his focus in on the madness being in great part due to our Sicilian culture and to the disciplinarian upbringing. I do agree that that influenced the cray-cray of our lives. I also was surprised at how much he really wasn’t present in the house. It makes sense now with his age and his wanting to always be out, and me with my age – not yet driving and being stuck inside.

I think Ross summed it up best: our mom was super intelligent, ahead of her time maybe, ran a business and a household without any kind of personal freedom or outlet, she was so very talented and a protective mother, and, yet, she did have a mental illness that at that time wasn’t understood. She was, indeed, Don Quixote fighting windmills.

In part two of this conversation with my brother (I'll post it later), you’ll hear about how much worse it can get when mental illness takes root in your family tree and our little sister is diagnosed as a schizophrenic and committed. Thanks for joining us for this episode, and I hope you’ll listen in on the second half for the rest of the story.

A storyteller at heart who built a career in writing, media & marketing, Paolina Milana is grateful for the magic AND the madness she's experienced. Her roots are entangled with mental illness and taking on caregiving roles -- something she has come to realize is not unique to her; rather, it seems to be common on several levels among others, especially the high-functioning women who from the outside looking in seem to have it all together.

Madness To Magic brings to listeners stories of real world encounters with what we all experience and yet feel shamed to keep silent. Embracing ALL of us is key to tapping into our own power to make all things possible.

Special thanks to the creators of the beautiful instrumental you hear during this podcast - Philippa Dowding & Allister Thompson - Original song “Sarah Tiptoes” from their album BIRCHES. Also love to the guy who's the master behind this podcast's production and audio engineering -- Joseph Dean Edwards.