That Wasn't The Plan

Recent episodes

1. Oh Canada, We See You (And We Love You)

   Jul 30, 2026

   Turns out That Wasn't The Plan is basically a Canadian podcast at this point. Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton — you all showed up before anyone south of the border figured out what was happening. So Emily and Courtney decided to do the only reasonable thing: dedicate an entire episode to the Great White North. Courtney, for the record, is a dual citizen. Born in Newfoundland on a military base. Canada was apparently on the edge of their seat waiting to find out whether she'd claim it. Life happened. She forgot. She found out at the Social Security office in Los Angeles while in her twenties and spent the rest of the day walking around going "dual citizen." She has still never been back. She and Jonathan are planning their honeymoon there. One bathroom on a houseboat is where she draws the line. Emily, meanwhile, is accepting suitors. Canadian ones specifically. Three hours south of the border. Funny is non-negotiable. You know where to find us. What you'll learn about Canada in this episode: 🩺 Insulin — invented at the University of Toronto in 1921. Probably saved more lives than anything else on this list 🍕 Hawaiian pizza — invented by a Greek-Canadian man in Chatham, Ontario in 1962. The world's most divisive pizza is Canada's fault and we respect it 🎲 Trivial Pursuit — dreamed up by two Montrealers over beers. Courtney's strategy: say "that's what I was gonna say" every single time ❤️ The pacemaker and IMAX — both Canadian. We'll just let that sit there 🍟 Poutine — rural Quebec, 1950s, several restaurants currently in a very polite dispute about who invented it 🍁 Maple taffy on snow — hot maple syrup poured over clean snow, rolled onto a stick. Canadians looked at a blizzard and made dessert 💰 The Great Maple Syrup Heist — thieves robbed Quebec's strategic maple syrup reserve for roughly $18 million Canadian dollars in 2011-2012. Yes, there is a strategic maple syrup reserve. Yes, this is real 🍟 Ketchup chips, all-dress chips, Tim Hortons, and the Double Double — Emily has never had any of these and is prepared to drive to Vancouver to fix that 🎭 The absolutely staggering list of Canadian comedians and entertainers: Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Rick Moranis, Leslie Nielsen, Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Ryan Reynolds, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Drake, Celine Dion, Shania Twain — we could go on 🏃 Terry Fox — who ran a marathon a day across Canada on one leg to raise money for cancer research before dying from it. Look him up 📺 Schitt's Creek and Anne of Green Gables — both beloved, both Canadian, Courtney watches Schitt's Creek with her whole family 🐋 The orcas of the Salish Sea — shared between Seattle and Vancouver Island, and Emily's personal neighbors 🐻 Polar bears of Churchill, Manitoba — self-declared polar bear capital of the world, where you can ride Tundra buggies out to see them up close 🦦 Beavers as ecological engineers — and why reintroducing them wherever possible might actually help save the planet 🚀 CanadaArm — the robotic arm that's been deploying satellites and supporting the International Space Station since the shuttle era 👻 The Old Hag of Newfoundland — centuries of folklore around waking up unable to move with a figure sitting on your chest, which we now call sleep paralysis. The cures included saying your name backwards, which Emily and Courtney attempt with very mixed results. Yentruoc Dnalloh is flawless. Ylime Etihw is a work in progress 🦕 Sasquatch Country — Harrison Hot Springs, BC, where local lore claims Sasquatches gather for reunions near the lake 🐉 Cadborosaurus — BC's own sea serpent, affectionately called Caddy, with a horse-or-camel-like head and an impressive number of alleged sightings 📩 Canada — write in and tell us where you're from. And Australians — you're next. Courtney's already planning your episode. 💌 Write in and tell us where you're listening from! thatwasnttheplanpod@gmail.com or visit thatwasnttheplan.com 📲 Find us on Instagram | TikTok | YouTube — search @thatwasnttheplan_podcast 🎧 If this made you laugh — or if you're Canadian and just feel deeply seen right now — subscribe, leave a review , and tell a friend. Especially a Canadian one. That wasn't the plan, and we will talk to you next week. K bye. 🍁 Support the show

2. She Grabbed the Shark's Snout

   Jul 23, 2026

   Welcome back. Season 2. We opened with a tiger shark. Seemed right. That Wasn't The Plan is back for Season 2 — and we are not easing anyone in gently. Our first guest is Kinga Philipps : journalist, explorer, Shark Week host, Explorers Club Fellow, and one of the coolest humans on the planet. If you don't know Kinga yet, you're about to. We start where you'd expect — with a flight cancellation. Emily spent the night on the floor of LAX, made it to Australia, made it back, and showed up for this recording slightly jet-lagged and fully feral. What follows is one of the most genuinely fun, unexpectedly educational, and thoroughly unhinged conversations we've had on this show. And we've had some unhinged ones. What you'll hear: Kinga watched Jaws at a friend's house as a kid — wasn't allowed to — and was so terrified she couldn't go in a swimming pool for years. The little journalist brain in her eventually asked why she was scared, and that question changed the entire trajectory of her life Emily's own shark encounter in the Galapagos — six feet, two feet behind her, just curious — and what it actually feels like when the predator energy shifts What to do if a shark comes at you in the water — and why the Instagram influencer advice will absolutely get you killed The scariest moment of Kinga's career. 73 million sharks are killed every year for shark fin soup. What Shark Allies is doing about it, why it's working, and how you can help Kinga's new Shark Week show: What Shark Attacked? — forensic shark species identification using GoPro footage, bite mark analysis, and actual science. Airs July 30th And a tease for next time: ayahuasca . Kinga has an article. Courtney has questions. We're going back in. "You're safe in the water, ladies." — Kinga Philipps, probably not talking about all the other stuff we discussed 📎 Find Kinga & Resources Mentioned: 📲 Instagram: @kingaphilipps 🦈 Shark Allies: sharkallies.org (board member — shark conservation, fin trade legislation) 💧 Waves for Water: wavesforwater.org (clean water solutions globally) 📺 Shark Week 2025 — What Shark Attacked? airs July 30th on Discovery 📖 The Devil's Teeth by Susan Casey — go read it 💌 Have a question for Kinga you want us to put in front of her for round two? Email us at thatwasnttheplanpod@gmail.com or visit thatwasnttheplan.com 📲 Find us on Instagram | TikTok | YouTube — search @thatwasnttheplan_podcast . Kinga is on Instagram at @kingaphilipps 🎧 Season 2 is here. If you're glad we're back — subscribe, leave a review, and share us with someone who needs a shark story in their life. That wasn't the plan, and we will talk to you next week. K bye. 🥂 Support the show

3. Season One Finale: 25 Episodes, A Cliffhanger, and a Flying Tooth

   Jun 19, 2026

   Happy 25th episode, everybody — and welcome to the Season One Finale of That Wasn't The Plan. Emily and Courtney sit down to close out Season 1 the only way they know how: completely unscripted, slightly unhinged, and somehow still kind of profound. Courtney opens with a literal cliffhanger, lands the plane on a calm, clear decision about her own health at 46, and then the two of them spend the rest of the episode doing what they do best — laughing, oversharing, and somehow turning a discussion about late-night jelly bean habits into something genuinely sweet. This one's a love letter to Season 1. They recap their favorite guest moments, reflect on what the show has become, and set up what's coming in Season 2 — launching July 23rd . Thank you for 25 episodes of listening, laughing, and showing up for this show. Season 2 is going to be even better. Go back and revisit your favorite episodes from Season 1 while we're away — and tell us which ones you want more of. 📎 Mentioned in this episode: Lindsay Brockman's tooth-flying moment: watch around the 45-minute mark of the Lindsay Brockman grief episode on YouTube or Spotify 💌 Have a story, a question, or feedback on Season 1? We want to hear it. Email us at thatwasnttheplanpod@gmail.com or visit thatwasnttheplan.com 📲 Find us on Instagram | TikTok | YouTube — search @thatwasnttheplan . All episodes are also up on Spotify and YouTube if you want to see our faces (filters and all — full transparency). 🎧 Season 2 launches July 23rd. Until then — please subscribe, leave a review, share us with a friend. It genuinely helps more than you know. That wasn't the plan, and we will see you in Season 2. K bye. 🥂 Support the show

4. I Want a Shit Ton of Kids ft. Jonathan Fitzgerald

   Jun 10, 2026

   This week's guest , Jonathan Fitzgerald, showed up with a life story that none of us were fully prepared for. Jonathan grew up the middle child of ten in Sarasota, Florida, in a family that could only be described as a force of nature. His parents — both only children, for the record — moved to Virginia to help found a Bible college and wound up with 48 grandchildren. His father delivered seven of the ten kids at home after reading nine books on childbirth, built a prototype birthing chair in his garage, and tried to patent it. Nobody roasted him at his 50th birthday party because everyone was too busy crying about how much they love him. Jonathan's life goal since his teenage years was simple: be an amazing husband, be an amazing father, have as many children as possible. He did all of that. And then the 2008 housing crash wiped out his painting business, his marriage unraveled under the weight of financial stress and lost communication, and he found himself — sober, broke, and completely on his own — raising five kids between the ages of two and sixteen while working 7 to 5 for someone else and coaching two of them in football. He never missed a practice. "I've got way more content." — Jonathan Fitzgerald. He's coming back. 💌 Got a story you want to share? We'd love to hear it. Reach us at thatwasnttheplanpod@gmail.com or visit thatwasnttheplan.com 📲 Find us on Instagram | TikTok | YouTube — search @thatwasnttheplan podcast 🎧 If this one made you laugh, cry, or call your dad — subscribe, leave a review , and share it with someone who needs it. That wasn't the plan, and we will talk to you next week. K bye. 🥂 Support the show

5. Napster + Arctic weirdos + Classroom bliss = Richard Ault; in a nutshell...

   Jun 4, 2026

   (We open with Courtney's puppy accidentally getting marijuana poisoning. This is relevant because it sets the tone perfectly for an episode about a man whose life has taken approximately seventeen unexpected turns.) This week's guest is Richard Ault — and his coworkers call him the most interesting person in the world. After about ten minutes, Emily and Courtney stopped arguing with that assessment. Richard is a biologist by training, a technologist by accident, and a high school teacher by something that can only be described as the universe intervening at exactly the right moment. His story runs from a latchkey childhood in Bethesda, Maryland to the Arctic tundra, from a rooftop party in San Francisco that accidentally launched his tech career to the inside of Napster during one of the most chaotic moments in music industry history — and then back down: addiction, bankruptcy, almost moving into his car, and finally, improbably, joyfully, back into a classroom. He's been sober for 13 years. He hiked to nearly 12,000 feet with his students two weeks ago. His favorite band is Tool. He is exactly who he appears to be. Richard's closing answer to "what's the kindest thing anyone's ever done for you?" might be the best we've ever gotten on this show. "It's stupid and corny, but — that wasn't the plan." — Richard Ault, nailing it. 💌 Have a story, a question, or something you want to share? Email us at thatwasnttheplanpod@gmail.com or visit us at thatwasnttheplan.com 📲 Find us on Instagram | TikTok | YouTube — search @thatwasnttheplan_podcast 🎧 If this episode moved you, please subscribe, leave a review , and share it with someone who needs to hear that the bottom isn't the end of the story. That wasn't the plan, and we will talk to you next week. K bye. 🥂 Support the show

6. Shirts in Your Pants & Other Moral Dilemmas

   May 28, 2026

   No guest. No agenda. No plan. Just Emily and Courtney showing up, catching each other up on their weeks, and somehow covering: shoplifting ethics, a stolen Power Ranger backpack, a suspicious kid at Target, toad venom, recovery, sitting with your feelings, and a stroller left alone in a parking lot that may or may not have had a baby in it. This is one of those episodes that was never supposed to be anything — and ends up being kind of everything. Grab a coffee, put your earbuds in, and hang out with us for a bit. "Life is not glossy and beautiful. It's fucking nasty. But it's also... real." — Emily White, 2025, exhausted as usual 📎 Reach out: Have a story, a question, or something you've been carrying? We read anonymous submissions. Email us: thatwasnttheplanpod@gmail.com or visit thatwasnttheplan.com. 💌 Reach us at thatwasnttheplanpod@gmail.com or visit us at thatwasnttheplan.com 📲 Find us on Instagram | TikTok | YouTube — search @thatwasnttheplanpodcast 🎧 If you like what we're doing, subscribe, leave a review , and share us with a friend. It genuinely helps more than you know. That wasn't the plan, and we will talk to you next week. K bye. 🥂 Support the show

7. We Don't Move On. We Move With. ft. Lindsay Brockman

   May 21, 2026

   (Courtney's back, everyone. Let the drinks flow. Also — Courtney's tooth made a brief unscheduled disappearance. We kept it in. You're welcome.) This week, Emily and Courtney sit down with someone doing some of the most quietly essential work in grief support: Lindsay Brockman , licensed veterinary nurse, certified pet loss grief specialist, and founder of EverKin Pet Loss Support out of Richmond, Virginia. Lindsay has fifteen years across ER, end-of-life, and community animal medicine — and she's seen firsthand what happens when the humans in those exam rooms are left to navigate loss with nothing but a sympathy card and a parking validation. Her framework is built around disenfranchised grief — the grief the world doesn't quite know how to honor. The grief that gets "it was just a pet." Or "you'll get another one." Or the silence where a casserole should be. Lindsay's entire practice exists to say: no. All grief deserves support. But Lindsay brings more than professional expertise to this conversation. Earlier this year, her son Jack was stillborn at 38 weeks. And in one of the most honest, tender moments we've had on this show, she talks about how both losses — the ones she holds for clients, and the one she carries herself — share the same language. The same weight. The same need to be witnessed. What you'll hear in this one: What disenfranchised grief actually means — and why pet loss is one of its biggest, most overlooked forms What fifteen years in vet ER looks like from the inside — and why grief literacy training for veterinary teams matters so much Compassion fatigue: what it actually is (and why it's not the same as burnout), and the org Not One More Vet fighting to support vet professionals Courtney's story of losing Rooster during the pandemic — and arriving at a locked ER door at 2am, sobbing, saying "I'm coming" "We don't move on. We move with." — what honoring grief actually looks like What NOT to say to a grieving person — and what to say instead when you genuinely don't know what to say Curly Sue — Lindsay's new rescue from Richmond Animal League, who weighs almost exactly what Jack weighed, and only wants to be held Weighted Angels , a volunteer organization making weighted stuffed animals for parents who leave the hospital without their baby Lady Chunk's live cameo (the cat had opinions and made them known) Human names for animals: Alan, Susan, Patricia, Gary, Frank — we stand by all of it And the grocery store pasta sauce incident, which is one of the best grief stories we've ever heard on this show Lindsay's tagline is a Ram Dass quote: "We are all just walking each other home." By the end of this episode, you'll understand exactly why. 📎 Find Lindsay & Resources Mentioned: 🌿 EverKin Pet Loss Support: EverkinPetLoss.com 📲 Instagram: @EverkinPetLoss 💙 Not One More Vet: nomv.org 🤍 Weighted Angels: https://www.weightedangels.com/ Lindsay's books reopen June 1st — if you or someone you love needs support, now's the time to reach out. 💌 Have a story about a plan that went sideways? We want to hear it. Reach out at thatwasnttheplanpod@gmail.com 📲 Find us on Instagram | TikTok | YouTube — search @thatwasnttheplan_podcast 🐾 If this episode moved you, please subscribe, leave a review , and pass it along to anyone who's ever loved an animal — or a person — and been told to just get over it. And as always — whatever plan you had? We're glad you're here anyway. 🥂 Support the show

8. Endometriosis: Painful Periods Are Not Normal ft. Hilary Pawlik

   May 14, 2026

   (Fair warning: Emily's mouth was fully uncensored this episode — blame the tech gremlins. Also, our earrings nearly derailed the whole thing. You'll hear it. We kept it in.) This week, Emily's co-host Courtney Holland is out due to an emergency — but honestly, today's guest doesn't need a wingman. Hilary Morris Pawlik has been Emily's ride-or-die since the eighth grade, and she shows up today to talk about something that affects 1 in 10 women and yet somehow remains one of the most underdiagnosed, underfunded, and dismissed conditions in medicine: endometriosis. Hilary is a professional dancer, award-winning choreographer, and co-director of Artist Entrance Dance Company in Los Angeles. She's performed with The Hollywood Pinup Girls and the Mental Head Circus vaudeville show, and she's basically done everything short of the Iditarod. But today, she's here to tell a different kind of story — the one about years of painful periods, fertility struggles, a missed diagnosis, a baseball-sized cyst, sepsis , and an emergency surgery that revealed her organs had started fusing together. What they cover: What endometriosis actually is (and why so many women — and their doctors — have no idea) The surprisingly wide range of symptoms, from painful periods to shortness of breath, leg pain, and GI issues Medical gaslighting: being told you're not in "enough" pain to have endo IVF, a uterine septum, and the winding road to becoming a mom Going from "watch and wait" to hospitalized with sepsis — while her husband was in Thailand The surgeon who quite literally saved her life (Dr. Richard Freeman at the Disney Cancer Center in Burbank) Why your regular OB/GYN may not be equipped to handle this — and where to find a specialist The Huberman Lab episode with Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi that every woman should listen to A Long Island research study actively enrolling women who haven't been diagnosed yet — and why that matters The hormonal birth control decision Hilary resisted and then reversed — and why she's so glad she did Community, support groups, and why both Emily and Hilary swear by themIf you have a uterus, know someone who does, or you're just a decent human who believes women deserve better healthcare — this episode is for you. 📎 Resources mentioned: 🎙️ Huberman Lab — "Female Hormone Health, PCOS, Endometriosis, Fertility & Breast Cancer" ft. Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMzfGZnaPN8 🔬 ROSE Research Study (Northwell Health / Feinstein Institutes) — endometriosis research enrolling participants: https://feinstein.northwell.edu/institutes-researchers/institute-molecular-medicine/robert-s-boas-center-for-genomics-and-human-genetics/rose-research-outsmarts-endometriosis 📲 Find Hilary on Instagram: @hilarypawlik 💌 Have a story about a plan that went sideways? We want to hear it. Reach out to us at thatwasnttheplanpod@gmail.com or www.thatwasnttheplan.com 📲 Find us on Instagram | TikTok | YouTube — search @thatwasnttheplan_podcast 🎧 If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe, leave a review , and share it with a friend who needs to hear it. It genuinely helps us grow the show and reach more people. And as always — whatever plan you had? We're glad you're here anyway. 🥂 Support the show

9. What Is Your Body Capable Of?

   May 7, 2026

   Most of us learned to look at our bodies and immediately catalog what's wrong with them. Too big. Too small. Too much. Not enough. Wasting away. Filling out. The wrong shape for the wrong season for the wrong man's opinion. This week, we're trying something else. Two world-class athletes — ice mermaid and U.S. record holder Melissa Kegler and former NCAA swimmer Sarah Beth Wood — sit down with us to talk about what it's actually like to live in a body that's been measured, weighed, commented on, and critiqued for as long as they can remember. Not by strangers on the internet. By coaches. Teammates. Parents. Other women. The lady on the beach who told Melissa she'd need to "slim down to keep a man like that." Melissa tells the story of being told she was too heavy in September and too thin in March of the same year — nothing changed except there wasn't a Wendy's in her college town. Sarah Beth talks about the eating disorder she didn't know she had until her body literally stopped working mid-race. Courtney shares getting boobs in fifth grade and spending decades convinced they meant she was fat. And we all reckon with the moment a friend (or a stranger, or a coach, or a parent) said something about our bodies that we still hear in our heads twenty-plus years later. But here's the reframe — courtesy of Melissa's friend Randy, who said: Stop looking at a body and asking what it can't do. Look at it and ask what it's capable of. That one sentence rewires everything. Your body isn't a problem to solve. It's not a before picture. It's the thing that's carried you through every hard thing you've survived — and it's still here. Plus: 25 cat condos, the Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich that ended a swim career, why "you look like you're having fun" might be the best compliment you can give a stranger. Two things can be true. Usually they are. This one is for anyone who's ever stood in front of a mirror and listed everything wrong. Spoiler: there's nothing wrong. There's just a body. And it can do a lot more than you've been giving it credit for. Just because it wasn't the plan doesn't mean it wasn't supposed to happen. 📬 thatwasnttheplanpod@gmail.com 🌐 thatwasnttheplan.com Support the show

10. ChatGPT won her the Powerball - and she gave it all away

    Apr 30, 2026

    Carrie Edwards bought a lottery ticket online (against her Army buddy's advice), let ChatGPT pick her numbers (also against his advice), forgot she'd opted into a second draw, and won $150,000. Then she gave every cent of it away. And $42,000 more out of her own pocket to cover the taxes. The story went viral worldwide — Tamron Hall, Inside Edition, Fox News, Korean headlines at her nail salon. An estimated 6 billion media impressions. And she got there by calling the Virginia Lottery's PR team herself and pitching them on a press conference. Sitting alone at her kitchen island, she heard a voice — clear as if someone were standing next to her — say it's not your money . And she listened. The money went to three places: AFTD (in honor of her late husband Steve, her best friend of 47 years, who was at the Pentagon on 9/11 and later died of frontotemporal degeneration), Shalom Farms (the food justice nonprofit in Richmond that healed her hands-in-the-dirt back to life), and the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (in honor of her dad, Captain Peter Swanson, a Navy fighter pilot — whose wife, by the way, took the kids to peacefully protest the Vietnam War while he was flying missions over it). This one moved us. We talk about the still small voice and how to actually hear it. The Army friend who's now taking full credit for her windfall (of course, he is). What it's like to lose your favorite person slowly, and then all at once. And how Steve walked their daughter Kelly down the hallway to get married two weeks before he died. Plus: why your tax dollars aren't feeding active-duty military families, why Mark Nepo's The Book of Awakening should be on everyone's nightstand, and Carrie's quiet rule for life — reach behind you and bring the next one in line . You may have caught the headlines. This is the part they didn't tell you. Donate where Carrie did: 🧠 AFTD — theaftd.org 🌱 Shalom Farms — shalomfarms.org ⚓ Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society — nmcrs.org Just because it wasn't the plan doesn't mean it wasn't supposed to happen. 📬 thatwasnttheplanpod@gmail.com 🌐 thatwasnttheplan.com Support the show

11. Part 2: Hypothermia can be funn! - Ice Mermaid

    Apr 16, 2026

    Last week, Melissa Kegler said she was going to get her record back. This week, the universe said, we’ll see about that. What follows is five months of waiting for water that is somehow both too warm and too frozen, a logistical nightmare involving flights, storms, dams, and one very specific 24-hour window where everything finally (and briefly) aligns. It is, by all accounts, the worst swim of her life. Naturally, she does it anyway. There’s something quietly unhinged about preparing your body for hypothermia on a biweekly basis, dragging friends and coworkers into the chaos, and then—when it finally happens—thinking, “This feels terrible. I might die. Let’s keep going.” And yet. Somewhere between the near-bail, the dead-man float (briefly considered, quickly abandoned), and a very well-earned post-swim pizza, Melissa figures out exactly what she’s capable of—and, more importantly, how she wants to do it next time. Also: hypothermia. Surprisingly...fun??? Support the show

12. Pt. 1 - The Ice Mermaid, Melissa Kegler

    Apr 9, 2026

    There are people who set goals. And then there’s Melissa Kegler—who hears a mildly unhinged suggestion and thinks, yes, that seems reasonable. In Part 1, we trace the origin story: from pool swimmer to open water wanderer, to casually knocking out the Triple Crown (Catalina, the English Channel, Manhattan… as one does). Along the way: crocodile-adjacent panic, questionable water conditions, dolphins, bioluminescence, and just enough vomiting to keep things grounded. It’s a story about curiosity, momentum, and the dangerous power of someone asking, “Have you ever thought about…?” Unfortunately, someone did. And next week, it gets cold. Support the show

13. Clay Play...And a Hot Take!

    Apr 2, 2026

    Courtney's tooth fell out again. Emily's hair is orange. Sarah Beth's pit bull has a pink belly. We're off. Somewhere in the middle of all that, we talk about Rosemary — Courtney's dear friend, gone two years this week. She spent her life helping traumatized kids and reminded us that hurt people don't just hurt people. Hurt people heal people. Then it gets weird (weirder?). We cover: Why every woman should embrace being called a bitch (hint: it just means you have a backbone) Sarah Beth's theory that not wanting to pet her dog makes you a bad person (retracted, sort of) Emily's hair falling out in clumps How to actually like yourself (Courtney Googled it — we'll share the results) Clay Play™ — which is, allegedly, pottery Plus: why your fallopians go feral around baby animals No agenda. No plan. Three women, like eight dogs, one squirrel , and a HOT TAKE! Warning: Contains one unsolicited dog vasectomy offer 📬 thatwasnttheplanpod@gmail.com 🌐 thatwasnttheplan.com Just because it wasn't the plan doesn't mean it wasn't supposed to happen. Support the show

14. Never Give Up. Also, Buy an Air Fryer.

    Apr 2, 2026

    This week, we dispense wisdom. Some of it useful. Some of it… less so. From brain candy books and existential dread to air fryer eggs, dry skin trauma, and the radical notion of simply not giving up, Emily and Courtney share the life advice they’ve collected, ignored, rediscovered, and occasionally weaponised. There are thoughts on fear, presence, kindness, and why you should probably talk to your knees. Also: why teenagers don’t know how keys work, and why calm might be a superpower (unconfirmed). Take what you need. Leave what you don’t. We’re all just doing our best. Support the show

15. We Left With Nothing

    Mar 26, 2026

    This week, we sit down with my friend Jen Quam Howell (JQ), who—on an otherwise unremarkable night—was woken up by her husband with the words no one prepares for: “The house is on fire. We have to go.” What follows is exactly what you’d expect and nothing like you’d expect. Three young kids. One terrifying exit down a burning staircase. A total loss. A hotel room that becomes “hometel.” And a community that quietly, relentlessly shows up—with spreadsheets, sweatpants, and the occasional replacement bra. We talk about what happens in the immediate aftermath of losing everything, the strange logistics of starting over, and the long tail of trauma that doesn’t politely disappear once the house is rebuilt. It’s about resilience, yes. But more than that, it’s about people—neighbors, friends, family—who step in when life goes completely off-script. Equal parts devastating, darkly funny, and unexpectedly hopeful. Because sometimes the plan burns down. And you build something anyway. Support the show

16. How to flag down your own mugger!

    Mar 19, 2026

    Los Angeles, as it turns out, is less a city and more a series of increasingly poor decisions strung together by sunshine. This week, Courtney shares a perfectly normal collection of experiences: flagging down her own mugger, accepting a ride from a man who openly admits to past home invasions, being called a “loser” by a spiritual-looking stranger, and—naturally—being offered a glimpse of someone’s testicles before breakfast. There is crime. There is confusion. There is alarming optimism. And against all odds, she survives all of it. A masterclass in what not to do—and why it somehow makes for excellent storytelling. Support the show

17. The Last Virgin

    Mar 12, 2026

    What happens when you grow up in a deeply religious household where sex is forbidden, masturbation is sinful, and heaven is apparently keeping score? You wait. This week we’re joined by our brilliant friend Sarah Beth Schooley Wood—champion swimmer, Antarctica bride, and (for a surprisingly long time) a very committed virgin. We talk purity culture, religious guilt, awkward first times, late blooming, and the strange realization that maybe… sex isn’t actually a moral emergency. There are penguins. There is back hair discourse. There are some truly questionable decisions involving condoms. And somewhere in the middle of it all: honesty, laughter, and a reminder that everyone arrives at their own timeline. Support the show

18. Planes, trains and tears

    Mar 5, 2026

    What begins as a chic business-class flight to Italy (because we’re grown now) quickly devolves into a transatlantic U-turn, a missing suitcase, an Amtrak sprint through Washington, D.C., a possibly intoxicated Uber driver declaring “Ma’am, I’m gonna get you there,” and approximately fourteen emotional breakdowns. There are trains. There are planes. There is public weeping. There is emergency lingerie purchased at JFK. And somehow—miraculously—there is also Italy. This week, Emily recounts the 48-hour odyssey that proves three things: You don’t need that much luggage. Always keep the Xanax. Lean into the chaos. It makes for better stories. Buckle up. Or don’t. It won’t matter. Support the show

19. Mom, if I'm in a wheelchair, I want to play murder ball

    Feb 26, 2026

    At 22, Matt Holland dove into shallow water, broke his neck, and immediately knew something was very wrong. This episode has it all: lake house chaos, a midnight helicopter ride, ICU absurdity, fingers-in-the-butt medical exams, and erections. It’s funny. It’s uncomfortable. It’s very honest. And it’s about what happens when your body stops—but your will doesn’t. Support the show

20. Left at the Altar

    Feb 19, 2026

    This week, Colleen Heiber joins us to discuss being left before the wedding… and almost leaving someone herself. Six weeks out. Invitations printed. Rose petals purchased. Dumpster involved. We talk red flags, baby fever (and losing it), jam bands, online dating in your late 30s, youth-pastor energy, and the radical act of asking, “Are you sure?” It’s funny. It’s brutal. It’s hopeful. It’s proof that sometimes the altar isn’t the ending — it’s the escape hatch. Very much not the plan. Support the show