In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Feliz lost her sister, Karina, in a horrifying way — in a way that’s quick to draw judgment and condemnation. Feliz has seen the worst of it all, but Karina deserves to be defined by her life, not her death. A warning that this episode includes discussions of drug use and poisoning. Resources: CDC guidelines on how to test drugs for fentanyl Find fentanyl test strips here DrugsData.org provi...
Jan 09, 2024•57 min•Ep 229•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - If your holiday season is feeling less sparkly, less warm, less…happy, you’ve come to the right place! Every year we make an episode about the bad, terrible and subpar side of the holidays and this year’s Happyish Holidays episode is a real doozy. Brianna Liestman shares how every Christmas from 2007-2010, a different member of her family ruined Christmas. There are fires, hospital visits, c...
Dec 12, 2023•54 min•Ep 228•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Kelly loved her dad, then she lost her dad. Kelly loved her grandpa, then she lost her grandpa. Now that Kelly’s a mom herself, she wants to ensure that her son knows he’s loved, no matter what comes. — We still have a few tickets left for our Happyish Holidays live show in Minneapolis Dec 7. Can't make it to Minneapolis? Buy a ticket to get access to the show's livestream! Tickets are $13 a...
Nov 28, 2023•49 min•Ep 227•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - There are some stories so plainly horrifying, some crimes so gut wrenching, that it can be hard to imagine the perpetrator as anything other than a villain. A drunk driving accident that killed 6 people does not sound like the beginning of a redemption story. But this episode isn’t about redemption — it’s about learning to live alongside an unthinkable mistake. — Listener support makes our i...
Nov 14, 2023•52 min•Ep 226•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - When Christina met Thomas as a young adult, their relationship felt different, and right. As time goes on, cracks start to appear in their dynamic, but Christina doesn’t give up on the people she loves. But how many cracks does it take before a dam breaks? — Listener support makes our independent podcast possible. Our Substack is a great way to connect with us and other listeners (and get mo...
Oct 31, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep 225•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Greg was married to his best friend, Anna, for 6 years. He loved and respected her. So the night he told her he was gay was painful because he knew how much he was hurting her. In the ten months since then, Greg has looked hard at his depression and addiction, two things that held him back from admitting his sexuality. This is part 2 of a story about one couple’s divorce. Listen to part 1 of...
Oct 17, 2023•59 min•Ep 224•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - When Anna was a 24 year-old hostess at a restaurant, she fell in love with the chef in the kitchen. Their relationship, and later marriage was filled with love. But Anna could always feel something was off between her and her husband. One night last December, she found out she was right. — Nora’s new Happyish journal and affirmation deck based on her own journaling practices launches today! ...
Oct 03, 2023•57 min•Ep 223•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Jeremy Norton has been a firefighter for over 20 years, a job that’s considered heroic and honorable…a job that sometimes means showing up to a false alarm…and sometimes means soaking up the trauma of the city around you. Jeremy has been a TTFA listener since day one. His first book — The Trauma Sponges: Dispatches From The Scarred Heart of Emergency Response — is out October 10, 2023. Link:...
Sep 19, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep 222•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - When Claire was a teenager, she held a lot of big, difficult feelings, and for a while, she saw only one solution for them. Though Claire decides to not act on those feelings, her story gets shared anonymously online — and continues to appear when she needs it most. Note: This episode is about suicide. If you are or someone you know is experiencing thoughts of suicide, there are free resourc...
Sep 05, 2023•51 min•Ep 221•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Like many teachers, when Kristen started her career at 22, she was hopeful and excited. She loved working with students with special needs, and loved learning how their brains worked. But over the years, the job became harder and harder because of the lack of support she received. Eventually, all of the small moments of feeling left out to dry led to a falling out with the career she loved. ...
Aug 29, 2023•1 hr•Ep 220•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - When Anaya and Dave Lee fell in love, they saw a whole future with each other. Part of that future included being parents. But when they started trying, they learned creating a family was going to be much more challenging than they expected. They eventually had to ask the question, if a baby doesn’t happen, what would our family look like? Note: this episode talks about pregnancy loss. __ Li...
Aug 15, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep 219•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Like everyone else in 2020, Grant Khanbalinov downloaded Tik Tok. He wasn't trying to learn dances or find a community- he wanted to learn the platform for his marketing job. To practice using the app, he made videos with his wife and kids. Then a video of his three-year-old daughter went viral, and Grant’s account blew up. He gained millions of followers and eventually made hundreds of thou...
Aug 01, 2023•48 min•Ep 218•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! — When Laura gets a call from the hospital telling her that her dad has severe frostbite and could die, Laura is shocked. Not because of the whole frostbite part ... but because her dad is alive. She hasn't seen or talked to him in years and honestly assumed he was long dead. This is a story about what happens when we realize our parents are, in fact, real people — and that real people mess up...
Jul 25, 2023•56 min•Ep 217•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Warning: This episode contains discussions of suicide and suicidal ideation. Nathan always knew he was different growing up. He also knew the LDS church had certain expectations of him: He'd do his mission, find a girl, get married and settle down. Being gay? Not part of that plan. Nathan does everything he can to be straight, including sending himself to "conversion therapy." It, of course,...
Jul 18, 2023•58 min•Ep 216•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Jamie Hahn was 29 years old when she was murdered by Jonathan Broyhill — the guy who had been the best man in her wedding to her husband, Nation. The intrigue surrounding Jamie's death and her killer's subsequent murder trial created non-stop news fodder ... and the story quickly became about Broyhill — his lies, his deception, his crimes. Nation wanted to tell his and Jamie's story without ...
Jul 11, 2023•54 min•Ep 215•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! — Religion often gives people a sense of belonging. It tells them who’s in and sometimes (depending on the faith, or depending on the microcosm of the faith they're raised in) who's out. That's how Patricia grew up — in a faith where leaving your religion meant leaving behind everyone you love. She is a former Jehovah’s Witness who left the church when she was in her mid-20s. This episode look...
Jun 27, 2023•47 min•Ep 214•Transcript available on Metacast We are taking a break this summer (not a vacation!) to produce new stories, so we are sharing some of our favorite episodes while we’re working. This episode was first broadcast in 2018. - In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! — Charlotte’s career is built on theoreticals. As an operating room nurse, she has a protocol for every tragedy — a “then” for every “if.” That all changes one night when, on her way home, Charlotte encounte...
Jun 20, 2023•43 min•Ep 213•Transcript available on Metacast We are taking a break this summer (not a vacation!) to produce new stories, so we are sharing some of our favorite episodes while we’re working. This episode was first broadcast in 2018 and is one of our all-time favorites. In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - The Achilli siblings would like you to know that if there was a Dead Parent Contest (there's not), they would win the gold medal. In 2008, their dad was murdered by a hit...
Jun 13, 2023•47 min•Ep 212•Transcript available on Metacast We are taking a break this summer (not a vacation!) to produce new stories, so we are sharing some of our favorite episodes while we’re working. This episode was first broadcast in 2017, the first year we started making this show! In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! — So many people start off their stories by saying their pain and suffering doesn’t compare to what happened to someone else. But this isn’t a game of Who Has It Wor...
Jun 06, 2023•18 min•Ep 211•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Five years ago, on Mother’s Day, Katie was sitting in prison, far from her kids. She couldn’t hug them, she couldn’t kiss them. It was at that moment she decided she would completely change her life so she could be with them again. But changing her life required a lot of help that didn’t exist in prison. Then one day, she opened a book in the prison library and a brochure fell out. It was fo...
May 16, 2023•57 min•Ep 210•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - When Xiomara Medina was a teenage girl in Puerto Rico, a quinceañera was all she wanted when she turned 15. She dreamed of a big, sparkly dress and dancing the night away with her friends. But her family couldn’t afford it. So when she grew up and had four daughters, she wanted to give each of her children the party she never had. In this episode, her daughter, Jeyca Maldonado-Medina, brings...
May 09, 2023•57 min•Ep 209•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Courtney Maum is having a midlife crisis. Parenting is taking so much of her time. Her writing career is going well, but that means she’s overwhelmed by deadlines and book deals. Her marriage is in a rough patch, and when she starts asking herself “should I have an affair?” and “should I become an alcoholic?” she recognizes she needs a change in her life. She dreams of finding an escape that...
Apr 18, 2023•48 min•Ep 208•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - There are a ton of money stories out there. Stories about people who are screwed financially through no fault of their own. People who did everything right and still cannot get a leg up. This episode is not one of those. It’s an excavation of a specific kind of debt, and a specific kind of shame. The kind that Jamie Feldman found herself in when she was 33 years old: credit card debt. — Reso...
Mar 28, 2023•39 min•Ep 207•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - In April 2022, Marlin Sill’s father died from a head injury caused by a cycling accident. A few weeks later, he embarked on a months-long hike through the Western United States. Throughout last summer, Marlin sent the TTFA team voice memos of himself processing his dad’s death while he hiked. In this episode we take you on the trail with Marlin as he grieves, and also throughout the rest of ...
Mar 14, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep 206•Transcript available on Metacast Enjoy this free TTFA Premium episode! And if you like it, consider signing up for future bonus content like this. Listener support makes our independent podcast possible. In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 09, 2023•39 min•Ep 205•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - TTFA producer Claire McInerny experienced an extreme weather event in 2021, a result of climate change, that left her worried about the future. She started channeling her anxiety about the future of our world into another important question she was asking herself: “Should I have kids?” In this episode, Claire tries to untangle her feelings around what the world will look like in the future w...
Feb 28, 2023•43 min•Ep 204•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Nora's dad died in 2014 from pretty much all of the cancers, leaving her mom Margaret without her life partner of almost 50 years ... and leaving Nora without a dad. Does a 40-year-old married woman with four children of her own need a father figure in her life? Nora thinks so! But what does Margaret have to say about dating in your 70s? — Listener support makes our independent podcast possi...
Feb 14, 2023•54 min•Ep 203•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Identity theft is something many of us are familiar with, but we have a specific image of what this looks like – our data being stolen online, or someone getting a hold of our social security number. But almost a third of identity theft crimes are committed by a family member. This episode tells the story of two people who experienced financial abuse at the hands of their parents. — Listener...
Feb 07, 2023•46 min•Ep 202•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Cheval spent her entire life trying to be a wedding dress designer (she started sewing at 7 years old and studied fashion design in college). In her mid 20’s, she got her big break when a large fashion house hired her to design a wedding dress collection named after herself. But that dream only lasted eight years. She found herself in the middle of a legal battle that would take away her col...
Jan 24, 2023•47 min•Ep 201•Transcript available on Metacast In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - One thing we know about grief is that it needs a witness. That inside every griever is a nearly uncontrollable urge to make the people around us understand what we had and what we have now. In this episode, we are all David’s witnesses. — Listener support makes our independent podcast possible. You can read the episode transcript here. — We’re lucky to only work with sponsors and brands we k...
Jan 10, 2023•32 min•Ep 200•Transcript available on Metacast 
