Episodes: 2021

We’ve got another mailbag episode for you, Premium listeners! It’s a simple concept: You ask questions. We answer them. Topics discussed in this mailbag episode include recovering from mistakes, our production process, current TV viewing, grief (so much grief), weddings … and Lucky Charms. Oh, and Costco.

Here’s a sneak peek of what you’ll get when you join us on TTFA Premium. For $8 a month, you can support our show AND get ad-free episodes and bonus content — including mailbag episodes like this one. Sign up today at TTFA.org/Premium.

If you know what it feels like to be on the brink of an emotional meltdown, you’re not alone. Many of us feel like we’re at the end of a rapidly fraying rope … like we’re falling behind in life and it’s solely our fault … like the reason for our problems is our inability to make lemonade out of climate change and racial injustice and a global pandemic. Nora recently asked folks to share what it’s like to be standing at the edge of an existential crisis, and you responded with your stories.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of folks got really into bread baking. Banana bread! Biscuits! Sourdough! (So much sourdough.) Ashley got into bread baking too, but for an entirely different reason. A week before quarantine began, Ashley’s wife died of a heart attack after years of living with cerebral palsy. Ashley wasn’t just lonely … she was ALONE. So she turned to baking as a way to heal.

Here’s a sneak peek of what you’ll get when you join us on TTFA Premium. For $8 a month, you can support our show AND get ad-free episodes and bonus content — including mailbag episodes like this one. Sign up today at TTFA.org/Premium.

Ryan’s life often feels like a Venn diagram. Ryan the person loves listening to metal and The Grateful Dead. Ryan the person is a sneakerhead who reads Punisher comic books at night. Ryan the person is also queer — bisexual — and a recovered alcoholic.  Brother Ryan, on the other hand, is a man who has taken strict religious vows. Brother Ryan is a man who believes in the beauty of communal living. Brother Ryan spends his life dedicated to service through education. These two versions of Ryan must find a way to exist together, or he could lose everything.

In our last episode, you met Leticia and her son Anthony. At the end of part one, things were finally looking good for both mother and son: Anthony had just welcomed his own daughter into the world; Leticia had married a wonderful man and was settling into life in the suburbs. But mental illness is a vicious beast, and in this episode, Leticia revisits 2017 — the last year of Anthony’s life. 

Leticia was 16 years old when she got pregnant with her son, Anthony. As you might imagine, raising a child more or less on your own when you’re only 16 is really, really hard. It’s even harder when you’re dealing with your own childhood and generational trauma. This is part one of Leticia and Anthony’s story. Part two coming next week.

Nora loves giving advice, especially when the questions are really easy and really low stakes. In this episode, she answers a few of your frequently asked questions and later teams up with comedian Tig Notaro to dole out some wisdom about grief, friendships and her everlasting love for skater boys.

We all want a good death — a death where we’re surrounded by the people we love and don’t feel any fear or pain. A good death is what Ron Deprez wanted when his body became ravaged by ALS… and thanks to his daughter, Esmé, and Maine’s death with dignity legislation, that’s exactly what he got. In this episode, Esmé Deprez shares her father’s story with us.

When you’re a planner and life throws you a big, rusty wrench, how do you live in the aftermath? This episode is for those of us who live to draw the empty boxes and check them. 

Edith Eger was 16 years old when the Nazis invaded Hungary during World War II. She was imprisoned at Auschwitz concentration camp with her family. Today, Dr. Edith Eger is a 93-year-old clinician, speaker and author who is so full of wisdom and light, we could’ve done ten episodes with her. 

Many of us have been forced to adopt a new way of grieving over the past year. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected our ability to properly mourn the way we need to when a loved one dies. We can’t safely gather by the dozens and sit in pain with one another for days on end. Stacy Cooper’s husband, Chad, died last fall, so she knows this all too well. But her grieving process started long before the pandemic hit.

Gaby Dunn is a Podcaster, a YouTuber, a Writer, an Actor..and a bi-con. She’s bi-sexual, bi-polar and talking to us about all of it.

Cynthia is a Latina adult woman living with autism. In this episode, she lets us in on her world, what her life was like growing up, and what she experiences today as an autistic adult.

Teresa fantasized about falling in love as much as any other teenager growing up. But because Teresa never saw people like her on TV or in movies — people living with disabilities — she could never really SEE herself having that kind of romantic relationship. That all changes when Teresa heads off to college.

Leah loves to make things. Growing up, she loved to draw and paint. In college, she started her own comic. As an adult, she’s built tiny homes from scratch. And after an unexpected accident, she’s tasked with finding new ways to be the maker she’s always been.

Gina became a caregiver at a young age. By age 6, she was emotionally responsible for her mother, her brothers and herself, and she learned to mute her own needs for the sake of others. As an adult, she’s still shaking off the long-term effects of being parentified and learning to attend to her own human needs.