This episode of It's Going to be Okay is presented by the Hartford.
The Hartford is a leading group benefits provider helping to simplify employee benefits by making
them more personal and easier to understand because using your employee benefits shouldn't
be so complicated.
Learn more at the Hartford.com slash benefits.
Terrible thanks for asking is an independent production.
We don't have the backing of a big company or network and we like it that way.
Since 2016 we've been bringing you the real stories of people who have lived through their
terrible thing and come out on the other side.
We'd love to keep this going.
Consider supporting our independent show by joining TTFA Premium with a monthly or yearly
gift.
You'll get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, and our eternal gratitude.
Learn more at ttfa.org slash premium.
I'm Nora McInerney and it's going to be okay.
But I don't want you to listen to this podcast and just take my word for it.
Hello.
I'm Kate Bowler and I'm friends with Nora McInerney who I love and who braids my hair and touches
my sweaty hands like they're not an abomination to nature and to God.
Kate Bowler is the host of the podcast Everything Happens with Kate Bowler.
She's the author of several wonderful books and she is also a professor at Duke University.
I have indeed braided her hair.
I've held her sweaty hands and they are not an abomination to nature and to God.
They aren't even as sweaty as mine.
So I just wanted to mention one thing that makes me feel like it's going to be okay.
And it's taste test parties.
I started throwing taste test parties, well, like probably a week after I was diagnosed
with stage four cancer.
It somehow felt like the most natural thing in the world to say, yes, this devastating
thing has happened in my life.
But did we ever really settle the question of which ketchup is better?
I'm from the middle of Canada and we've got like bonus on bonus ketchup.
We have like local grocery store ketchup.
We've got Safeway Classic.
But yeah, by the end of the week I had gathered about 12 different ketchup and lined them
up.
And so my sobbing family and friends could just sample that buffet.
But the truth is it's the most fun.
And maybe also was somehow related to the fact that I have a family that hoards ketchup.
Like if I go into my dad's car, I'm like minus 40, middle of Canada winter, I can open
up any small like crevice in the car, the little tiny thing by the door, the sunglasses
pop down holder, that center console.
And there will be ketchup's, ketchup's from six to eight different fast food restaurants
as if in the apocalypse, the primary concern.
And just keeping in mind that every Canadian winter car is outfitted with like reflective
vests, a shovel, flares, but my dad would add ketchup.
So maybe deep down, I just always know that when the apocalypse comes, the only really
thing that's going to make you feel better is the great randomness of being super, super
picky about one tiny, dumb thing.
So yeah, taste tests.
I have held, I don't know, maybe a dozen different taste test parties, usually before or after
something really stressful.
It's not just like fries, pizza, I've gone fake beers that aren't beers, sweet sour chicken,
breads.
But the best one was the 30 different kinds of diet coke that I tried.
And in all things, I just think, yeah, strong opinions loosely held.
And when your world is terrible, sometimes all you want to do is yell about something
that doesn't truly matter until that very moment.
So yeah, taste test parties.
I highly recommend them.
Also from personal experience, half a dozen ketchup is not going to hurt either.
Half a dozen ketchup is not going to hurt either.
That was Kate Bowler, her most recent book, The Lives We Actually Have 100 Blessings for
Imperfect Days is available wherever you get books and we will also link it in the
show notes.
I'm Nora McInerney and it's going to be okay.
And that it is subjective and subject to change.
It will be different on this podcast every day and we do want to hear yours.
You can send us a voice memo or an email, which I could read out loud, or you could
attach a voice memo to an email at iGTBO at feelingsand.co or you can call us at 612-568-4441.
iGTBO is a production of Feelings and Co, which is an independent production company.
You can support our work by sharing this episode, by rating and reviewing wherever you get your
podcasts or by doing what you're doing now, which is just listening to it.
So thank you.
Our team is Megan Palmer, Claire McInerney, Jordan Turgeon, Marcel Mallekebu, Eugene
Kidd and Larissa Witcher.
Our theme music is by Secret Audio.
This episode of It's Going to Be Okay was brought to you by the Hartford.
For too long, the insurance industry has been using terms and descriptions that make understanding
your employee benefits next to impossible.
The Hartford wants to change that.
They're a leading group benefits provider that uses easy to understand language to describe
their products, so normal people like us know what we're really getting when we choose
our benefits.
Learn more at the Hartford.com slash benefits.