People are clumsy when it comes to widows – we’ve made a handful of episodes about just how clumsy we can be. But we don’t often talk about how widows can be clumsy with others, too. In today’s episode, we meet caller Alex, who met her dream man on Hinge. He was emotionally available, kind, and very interested in her. He made her feel safe and valued and important, which made Alex feel like she was finally with the right guy.

The only complication? His wife had died a year earlier. And Alex, despite her best efforts, can’t help but feel like she is being constantly compared to his dead wife and that she has to suppress her feelings in favor of his “bigger” loss. In this episode, Nora and Alex break down their relationship, their breakup, and the complications of grief and dating.

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Some days, OK things are all around us and naming them is a breeze. On other days, it feels like you have never, EVER been OK in your entire life. Whatever day you’re having, Nora and special guest and friend of the pod Jo Piazza are bringing you a message: to join them in their version of a 90s summer of surrender. They talk about lowering expectations, enjoying the whimsical little things (think: bedazzled pill bottles and cold pasta salad in the heat), and what parenting in the summer looks like when it isn’t a 10 second Instagram reel.

You can share your okay things with us at☎️502-388-OKAY (6529) or 📧 ⁠[email protected]⁠ 

To support our show, you can subscribe to our YouTube content ⁠here⁠.

Our music is by Secret Audio, and their new album is on ⁠Spotify⁠ or ⁠Apple⁠!

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When you’re a planner and life throws you a big, rusty wrench, how do you live in the aftermath? If you’re anything like us, you desire control. A perfect, beautiful calendar with everything already on it – no surprises! Maggie Smith was one of those people, too. Being ruled by predictability worked for a lot of her life – through school, marriage, children, her career – but then everything imploded when Maggie found herself divorced and there was nothing predictable about her future anymore. This episode is for those of us who live to draw the empty boxes and check them off, waking up in a cold sweat thinking about your future plans might being thrown off.

Let this be your sign to let go. You’ll find yourself once you get rid of the box you’re living in.

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Drinking is a really acceptable thing in the US. Most towns have liquor stores on every few corners. Every home decor store has products with some variation of the same, tongue-in-cheek humor: “Mommy’s Go-Go Juice,” “I’m not whining, I’m wine-ing,” or “It’s WINE O’CLOCK!” More often than not, explaining that you’re sober can be more awkward than explaining that you binge drink every other weekend. In fact, in the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 79.2% of people aged 12 and up reported that they had consumed alcohol at some point in their lifetime. 

Drinking is, for most people, considered “normal.” And for Laura McKowen, drinking was just a part of life – of work, of her social life, of relaxing. She didn’t realize how destructive it was until things had gone too far and her brother confronted her, saying, “This is your thing. You can’t drink.” Laura is here today to walk us through her addiction, guilt, turmoil, recovery, and path onwards, sharing the nine things that anyone facing addiction needs to hear.

References:

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2025). Alcohol use in the United States: Age groups and demographic characteristics. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-topics-z/alcohol-facts-and-statistics/alcohol-use-united-states-age-groups-and-demographic-characteristics

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What’s okay with Laura McKowen right now? After we talk about the weather (and who doesn’t love to talk about the weather?) we go on a journey through prestige and lowbrow television, briefcases, baked goods and a poem that will bring you the soul hug you need. 

Laura McKowens books:

We Are The Luckiest: The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life (Bookshop | Amazon)

Push Off From Here: 9 Essential Truths To Get You Through Sobriety (And Everything Else ( Bookshop | Amazon)

And Laura’s substack, Love Story. 

You can share your okay things with us at ☎️502-388-OKAY (6529) or 📧 [email protected] 

To support our show, you can subscribe to our YouTube content here.

Our music is by Secret Audio, and their new album is on Spotify or Apple

Our Sponsors:

❤️ Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/TFA⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/TFA⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping and 365-day returns. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/TFA⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

❤️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shop Everyday Cotton, and all of my favorite bras and underwear, at SKIMS.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you! Select "podcast" in the survey and be sure to select our show in the dropdown menu that follows.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

❤️ Experience your juiciest and deepest sensual experience with a bottle of Foria. FORIA is offering a special deal for our listeners. Get 20% off your first order by visiting ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠foriawellness.com/tfa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ OR use code TFA at checkout. That’s F-O-R-I-A WELLNESS DOT COM FORWARD SLASH TFA for 20% off your first order. I recommend trying Awaken or their Pleasure Set with all three of their best sellers.

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There is no shame in giving up, despite the fact that the #Girlboss from the 2010s in us all might be rolling over in her metaphorical grave at the thought. But if you’re anything like Nora, you’ve felt the pressure from… well, everywhere to have a plan for the summer. To make it the most magical summer for your kids. To juggle work and hobbies and friends and your health with ease even as we’re hit by heat wave after heat wave. To meet every make believe deadline you have created for yourself.

This episode, Nora’s introducing you to the Summer Of Surrender: The One Where We Give Up. It’s about letting go of that tight hold you have on to-do lists, deadlines, and plans. It’s about letting life take you wherever it may go. It demands that you step away from that email you’ve been writing, accept you are not the center of the universe, and surrender.

Come surrender with us.

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Adoption is often viewed as a happy ending, and sometimes it is! But for Thenedra, her experiences as a child in the foster care system and later as a trans-racial adoptee were — and still are — much more complicated than that. This is an episode about what can happen when trans-racial foster and adoptive parents are not just unprepared to raise traumatized children, but also unprepared to raise Black children in a predominantly white society.

References: 

• The National Association of Black Social Workers’ 1972 position statement on transracial adoption 

• 1984 study on the long-term effects of trans-racial adoption

• Children of color disproportionately likely to enter foster care system

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Listen to Geoffrey’s album on Spotify and Apple!

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❤️ Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/TFA⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/TFA⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping and 365-day returns. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/TFA⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

❤️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shop Everyday Cotton, and all of my favorite bras and underwear, at SKIMS.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you! Select "podcast" in the survey and be sure to select our show in the dropdown menu that follows.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

❤️ Experience your juiciest and deepest sensual experience with a bottle of Foria. FORIA is offering a special deal for our listeners. Get 20% off your first order by visiting ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠foriawellness.com/tfa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ OR use code TFA at checkout. That’s F-O-R-I-A WELLNESS DOT COM FORWARD SLASH TFA for 20% off your first order. I recommend trying Awaken or their Pleasure Set with all three of their best sellers.

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If you’ve been feeling like life is throwing everything at you all at once – burnout, exhaustion, chaos – today’s episode is for you. Today, Nora is joined by author and friend of the pod Courtney Maum, who brought OK things from weird Zillow listings in Florida to fancy gifts from very classy ladies. And, despite their love for each other, they very nearly have a friendship-ending fight – over whether the calendar should start on Sunday or Monday. Things get pretty heated.

If you’re searching for joy in the chaos, sit back and press play on today’s episode.

Watch us on YouTube here⁠!

Listen to Geoffrey’s album on ⁠Spotify⁠ and ⁠Apple⁠!

You can buy Nora’s books on ⁠Bookshop ⁠or ⁠Amazon⁠, or wherever you buy books.

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Our Sponsors:

❤️ Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/TFA⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/TFA⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping and 365-day returns. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/TFA⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

❤️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shop Everyday Cotton, and all of my favorite bras and underwear, at SKIMS.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you! Select "podcast" in the survey and be sure to select our show in the dropdown menu that follows.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

❤️ Experience your juiciest and deepest sensual experience with a bottle of Foria. FORIA is offering a special deal for our listeners. Get 20% off your first order by visiting ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠foriawellness.com/tfa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ OR use code TFA at checkout. That’s F-O-R-I-A WELLNESS DOT COM FORWARD SLASH TFA for 20% off your first order. I recommend trying Awaken or their Pleasure Set with all three of their best sellers.

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In 2011, it was impossible to escape the “Friday” music video. September 16, 2011 changed the trajectory of pop culture – and of 13-year-old Rebecca Black’s life – forever. What started as a harmless, fun music video (with yes, some questionable lyrics) turned into a vitriolic mob obsessed with bullying a teenage girl. Even now, every few months the song will resurface on TikTok. But what happens to the person behind the viral fame? What happens to the subject of unnecessary hate? Rebecca Black is on the pod to tell you.

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Our Sponsors:

❤️ Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/TFA⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/TFA⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping and 365-day returns. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/TFA⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

❤️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Shop Everyday Cotton, and all of my favorite bras and underwear, at SKIMS.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you! Select "podcast" in the survey and be sure to select our show in the dropdown menu that follows.⁠⁠⁠⁠

❤️ Experience your juiciest and deepest sensual experience with a bottle of Foria. FORIA is offering a special deal for our listeners. Get 20% off your first order by visiting ⁠⁠⁠⁠foriawellness.com/tfa⁠⁠⁠⁠ OR use code TFA at checkout. That’s F-O-R-I-A WELLNESS DOT COM FORWARD SLASH TFA for 20% off your first order. I recommend trying Awaken or their Pleasure Set with all three of their best sellers.

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Father's Day can be complicated.

In this special mini-episode, we hear an essay from writer Hannah Diaz titled No One Sent Flowers for the First Loss. Then, podcaster and former Vanderpump Rules actor Dayna Kathan talks about how loving her dad from a distance is an act of self-love.

Happy Complicated Father's Day.

Hannah's IG: @hannah_d1az

Dayna's IG: @daynakathan

Watch us on YouTube here!

Get this episode ad-free here!

Listen to Geoffrey’s album on Spotify and Apple!

You can buy Nora’s books on Bookshop or Amazon, or wherever you buy books.

Check out Nora’s Instagram here!

Check out Nora’s TikTok here!

Check out Nora’s Facebook here!

Check out Nora’s LinkedIn here!

Our Sponsors:

❤️ Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to ⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/TFA⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too. Go to ⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/TFA⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping and 365-day returns. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/TFA⁠⁠⁠⁠

❤️ ⁠⁠⁠Shop Everyday Cotton, and all of my favorite bras and underwear, at SKIMS.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you! Select "podcast" in the survey and be sure to select our show in the dropdown menu that follows.⁠⁠⁠

❤️ Experience your juiciest and deepest sensual experience with a bottle of Foria. FORIA is offering a special deal for our listeners. Get 20% off your first order by visiting ⁠⁠⁠foriawellness.com/tfa⁠⁠⁠ OR use code TFA at checkout. That’s F-O-R-I-A WELLNESS DOT COM FORWARD SLASH TFA for 20% off your first order. I recommend trying Awaken or their Pleasure Set with all three of their best sellers.

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Today’s IGTBO episode is a spiritual hug – as previous guest and friend of the pod Kelly Corrigon called it – with guest Nadia Bolz-Weber, a beautiful writer, a fellow griever, and a pastor. Don't be frightened away from this episode if you are not a religious person – there won’t be any lecturing here. Nadia is not that kind of religious person. She’s the kind of religious person that, at the very least, inspires you to find the beauty in the world around you. And that’s what today’s episode is – a balm for your soul and a confirmation that a small, simple life is more than enough.

You can find Nadia’s work on Substack ⁠here⁠.

You can share your okay things with us at ☎️502-388-OKAY (6529) or 📧 ⁠[email protected]⁠ 

To support our show, you can subscribe to our YouTube content ⁠here⁠.

Check out the IGTBO Instagram ⁠here⁠!

Our music is by Secret Audio, and their new album is on ⁠Spotify⁠ or ⁠Apple⁠!

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