Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. was born in Sierra Leone, and when he was eight years old, his mom brought him to live with her in the States. Then, when he was a teenager, his mom got sick and passed away. In the years since, Saidu has struggled with how distant he felt from his mom, often using poetry to work through his feelings. On this week's show, a beautiful story about the infinite gratitude--and resentment--we can feel for the parents who gave us everything.

Plus, an update about our podcast.

"Borders Between Us" was produced by Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. and Jay Allison for the public radio website transom.org. The story was made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.