Subscribe within Apple Podcasts for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, and access to our full archive. For all those perks and more, including a supportive community of Terrible listeners, mail surprises and live sessions with our team, join us on Patreon.com/ttfa! — It's a question we ask (and get asked) all the time: “How are you?” And normally we just respond with “Fine!” even if we’re totally dying inside, so everyone can go about their day. But it’s not always all that fine, is it? “Terrible, Thanks For Asking” is a show by author Nora McInerny that lets real people get real honest about how they’re really doing. It’s sometimes sad, sometimes funny, and almost always both. A production of Feelings & Co.
This episode originally ran in 2016, and we pulled it out of the archives to share with you here, and to kick off a new season of TTFA Anthologies, where we pull together a themed season of some of our best episodes. This season the theme is Grief: It’s Complicated…stories about the kind of grief you won’t find in the sympathy card aisle. Stories like the one you’re about hear. We have a separate podcast feed for these seasons. It’s linked in our show description, or you can find it on your podcast app by searching TTFA Anthologies.
Listen to TTFA Anthologies on Spotify, Apple, or anywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts.
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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.
Originally published 1/23/2017
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Learn more about Fordham University’s Master of Social Work program at: fordham.edu/TTFA.
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The Feelings & Co. team is Nora McInerny, Marcel Malekebu and Grace Barry.
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Find all our shows at www.feelingsand.co.
“Can I move in with you?”
Laurel Louise Anderson (lovingly called Miss Ma’am) posed the question to our producer and her son, Marcel Malekebu, in the summer of 2024. After nearly a year of Marcel asking and a year of her denying, the request came seemingly out of nowhere. His mom moved in, and Marcel and his wife Jenae became caregivers not only to their two very young daughters, but to Miss Ma’am. Caregiving is not an easy thing to do, but it is a holy thing to do. And in this episode, Marcel and Jenae are sharing Miss Ma’am and their lives with her with us.
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Listen to Geoffrey’s album on Spotify and Apple!
More Caregiving Episodes:
Normalize “bad women” with Rebecca Woolf
Shop my favorite bras and underwear at SKIMS.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know I sent you! Select "podcast" in the survey and be sure to select my show in the dropdown menu that follows.
Find your fall staples at Quince.com/TFA!
All-in-one nutrition for daily performace at DrinkAg1.com/THANKS
Check out Rocket Money at rocketmoney.com
“Can I move in with you?”
Laurel Louise Anderson (lovingly called Miss Ma’am) posed the question to our producer and her son, Marcel Malekebu, in the summer of 2024. After nearly a year of Marcel asking and a year of her denying, the request came seemingly out of nowhere. His mom moved in, and Marcel and his wife Jenae became caregivers not only to their two very young daughters, but to Miss Ma’am. Caregiving is not an easy thing to do, but it is a holy thing to do. And in this episode, Marcel and Jenae are sharing Miss Ma’am and their lives with her with us.
Get this episode ad-free here!
Listen to Geoffrey’s album on Spotify and Apple!
More Caregiving Episodes:
Normalize “bad women” with Rebecca Woolf
Shop my favorite bras and underwear at SKIMS.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know I sent you! Select "podcast" in the survey and be sure to select my show in the dropdown menu that follows.
Find your fall staples at Quince.com/TFA!
All-in-one nutrition for daily performace at DrinkAg1.com/THANKS
Check out Rocket Money at rocketmoney.com
What would you say to your dead person? We’re listening in on the Wind Phone.
You can find a wind phone near you here, or call us to leave your message for a future episode: 612.568.4441
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Listen to Geoffrey’s album on Spotify and Apple!
“Okay, boomer” will go down in history as one of the funniest (and truest) ways to shut down a boomer whining about younger generations who just don’t get it. But this episode is not about what boomers don’t understand. This is an appreciation episode about the boomers who get it. Nora and friend of the pod Caroline Moss are here to tell you all about their favorite boomers. It’s time to give them their flowers, so we hope today’s episode will inspire you to show your appreciation for YOUR favorite boomers.
https://www.tiktok.com/@linwolfgang/video/6714782003637521670?
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Listen to Geoffrey’s album on Spotify and Apple!
Shop my favorite bras and underwear at SKIMS.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know I sent you! Select "podcast" in the survey and be sure to select my show in the dropdown menu that follows.
Find your fall staples at Quince.com/TFA!
All-in-one nutrition for daily performace at DrinkAg1.com/THANKS
Check out Rocket Money at rocketmoney.com
Things are not good in the world right now, and you don’t need us to tell you that. But despair is also not good. Having no hope is not good. And Nora believes that the antidote to despair is action – doing things for others in whatever capacity you can. So she and her son Ralph are bringing back IGTBO for you as an exercise in seeing the OK things in the world around you, even when it seems like all hope is lost.
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Listen to Geoffrey’s album on Spotify and Apple!
Shop my favorite bras and underwear at SKIMS.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know I sent you! Select "podcast" in the survey and be sure to select my show in the dropdown menu that follows.
Find your fall staples at Quince.com/TFA!
All-in-one nutrition for daily performace at DrinkAg1.com/THANKS
Check out Rocket Money at rocketmoney.com
It’s been a year and a half since we aired an episode where we spoke with Evan about his past and his current health journey of losing weight and reclaiming his life. In this episode, Evan tells us what he’s been up to and also surprises us with how much his perspective has changed since his weight loss surgery.
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Listen to Geoffrey’s album on Spotify and Apple!
Shop my favorite bras and underwear at SKIMS.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know I sent you! Select "podcast" in the survey and be sure to select my show in the dropdown menu that follows.
Find your fall staples at Quince.com/TFA!
All-in-one nutrition for daily performace at DrinkAg1.com/THANKS
Check out Rocket Money at rocketmoney.com
Today, Nora interviews Peter Silberman of the Antlers, a band whose album Hospice changed her life twice: first in 2010, after a horrible breakup, and then in 2011, when her husband was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Over a decade later, thanks to a little bit of fate and Peter’s cousin April, Nora and Peter talk about the album, what it means, grief, anger, and how art connects us all.
Get this episode ad-free here!
Listen to Geoffrey’s album on Spotify and Apple!
Shop my favorite bras and underwear at SKIMS.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know I sent you! Select "podcast" in the survey and be sure to select my show in the dropdown menu that follows.
Find your fall staples at Quince.com/TFA!
All-in-one nutrition for daily performace at DrinkAg1.com/THANKS
Check out Rocket Money at rocketmoney.com
The world is not especially great right now. In the midst of all the chaos and nightmare fuel, today’s episode of Thanks for Asking is an emotional palate cleanser. Nora and friend of the pod Kate Kennedy are here to deliver some silliness with the weirdest things your kids have said to you, written to you, or drawn for you. And yes, it gets very, very weird.
Get this episode ad-free here!
Listen to Geoffrey’s album on Spotify and Apple!
Shop my favorite bras and underwear at SKIMS.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know I sent you! Select "podcast" in the survey and be sure to select my show in the dropdown menu that follows.
Find your fall staples at Quince.com/TFA!
All-in-one nutrition for daily performace at DrinkAg1.com/THANKS
Check out Rocket Money at rocketmoney.com
Being a widow is complicated. On top of the earth-shattering grief you experience, there’s a huge societal pressure to be the perfect image of a grieving partner, missing the love of your life. But what if the person who died was actually kind of a huge jerk? How do you take care of someone who doesn’t really deserve it? And what does it mean to be a good woman or a good widow?
All of This: A Memoir of Death and Desire by Rebecca Woolf
The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards by Jessica Waite
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You’ve seen the headlines. You’ve looked at the world. You know, like we do, that not everything is going to be OK. But to start 2026, we’re going to look at some of the things that make us feel like something will be OK. If you need a sign that there is still good in the world, let this be it.
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Listen to the Secret Audio album on Spotify or Apple!
Shop my favorite bras and underwear at SKIMS.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know I sent you! Select "podcast" in the survey and be sure to select my show in the dropdown menu that follows.
Go to indeed.com/TFA for all of your hiring needs!
Head to cozyearth.com and use my code NORA for up to 20% off!
Find your fall staples at Quince.com/TFA!
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All-in-one nutrition for daily performace at DrinkAg1.com/THANKS