All Episodes

It’s 12:00. No, 1:00. No, 4:45 in the morning. You should be sleeping — we all should be — but you’re not. You’re laying there as the minutes tick away, thinking about … what, exactly? One sleepless night, Nora took to Twitter to see what was keeping you up. And you answered. This is an episode made by you (and Hans … okay, mostly Hans), about what keeps you up at night.

So many people start off their stories by saying that it doesn’t compare to what happened to someone else. But this isn’t a game of Who Has It Worse, so why do we act like there is some sort of imaginary yardstick for struggling?

When Nora's dad died, she lost his stories — the ones that she’s not sure she can quite remember right, and the ones she never knew ... like the stories from his time as a Recon Marine in Vietnam. Nora decides to look up some of the men he served with. What unfolds is Nora discovering a story about a single day — September 20, 1968 — and the patrol where two men were killed. Nora’s father was on that patrol. It was one of his first. As Nora learns about those men and that day, she discovers that it had a profound effect on shaping everyone who was there.

Damon’s grandparents were murdered 18 months before he was born. He never knew them, but their deaths — and the trial for their killer — defined much of his childhood. For nearly three decades, Damon’s mother has attended every parole hearing to deliver a victim impact statement. When we meet Damon, there is another such hearing coming up, but his mother is unable to attend. For the first time in his life, Damon prepares to see his grandparents’ murderer face to face. 

For many of us, death is scary and mysterious. This episode is about the in-between, the middle place between life and death — and the people who are there to witness it. We talk with Heather, a hospice nurse, and Sarah, a woman with the gift of intuition.

Sarah Super is not broken. Sarah Super is a woman who is absolutely, 100% living up to her name. She’s is a rape survivor — a very outspoken rape survivor. In this episode, Sarah talks about the things that nobody wants to talk about, the things that grow and survive in silence … including what happened after her ex-boyfriend raped her in 2014.

Colleen is a pediatrician, a wife, and a mother to a beautiful son named Henry, who was stillborn. After Henry's stillbirth, Colleen and her husband continue trying to build their family, but they're faced with secondary infertility and a series of miscarriages. This is Colleen's story, but the episode is for the thousands and thousands of people just like her, who continue to keep trying ... even if that means breaking their hearts over and over.

Dawn is a nurse. In June of 2015, she was injured on the job by one of her patients and suffered a traumatic brain injury. Dawn’s husband and their kids have been in deep, deep grief since that day in 2015. Not because Dawn died — she’s very much alive, thank goodness. But because Dawn isn’t the same person she used to be. Can’t get enough TTFA? Sign up for TTFA Premium for $7.99 a month. You’ll get access to exclusive bonus content, ad-free episodes, extended guest interviews and more! Visit TTFA.org/Premium to get started. Shop for your favorite TTFA gear at TTFAmerch.com.

Danni Starr had everything she wanted: a successful radio career, a husband and a new baby. But off the air, motherhood wasn't all that great. In fact, it was awful. Nothing had prepared her for the postpartum depression and anxiety that quickly consumed her brain … or for the double life she’d be living as she juxtaposed that postpartum depression and anxiety with her very public job and image. This episode is about what happens when you’ve taken all the classes, read all the books, bought all the stuff and still feel lost as ever.

Two days after Nora’s husband Aaron died, she celebrated Thanksgiving with her family. Well ... maybe not “celebrated.” Every year, millions of people do the same thing during the holidays. In this episode, we talk with some of those folks, including Dr. Lucy Kalanithi and comedian Amber Tozer. We also spend some time with some of the women of the Hot Young Widows Club, talking about their hopes and dreams for the upcoming year. Plus, stories of some of the worst holidays ever.

Eva Hagberg is young, ambitious and about to get her Big Break — a byline in the New York Times! And then, she publishes an error. A big factual error. In the New York freaking Times! Cue the breakdown. If you've ever laid in bed replaying your missteps, this episode is for you.

Toddlers Ralphie and Bronson have lived most of their young lives with dead fathers. Their mothers — Nora and Moe — struggle to understand how to help their boys remember the dads they won’t know directly. As they worry about what long-term effect the losses will have on the kids, Nora seeks perspective from Ambra Markos, whose mother died when Ambra was just 2.

Nora McInerny is in love with two men. With one man (who died two years ago this week), she has a child. And just last week, she had a child with the other. She didn’t tell many people about the new baby. Or her pregnancy, for that matter. And in the first-ever episode of “Terrible, Thanks for Asking,” she explains why.