Years ago, Lauren Makler was diagnosed and treated for a rare abdominal disease. Doctors told her her ovaries might not survive the surgeries she needed, so when she conceived her first child without any assistance, she was shocked. She took that feeling of having a baby despite the odds and turned it into her business, Cofertility. She wanted anyone who wanted kids to have access to fertility technology, and not let cost stand in their way. People who freeze their eggs with Cofertility don’t have to pay for the procedure (or storage) if they donate some of their eggs to a family looking for an egg donor. In this episode, Julia and Lauren talk about this new business model, the fertility industry as a whole and the emotional process some face in starting a family.

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Additional Resources: 

Some of the resources Lauren mentioned in this episode: 

Fertility IQ - a place to find the best fertility doctor in your area

SART - learn about IVF and fertility best practices so you go into a doctor’s appointment with knowledge. 

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Host: Julia Winston

Producer: Claire McInerny 

Audio Engineer: Josh Gilbert

Theme Music: Luke Top

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Julia and Claire are both getting married this year (cute!) and the wedding planning process has opened up new refamulating questions for them: who do we include in the celebration? What traditions are important and what do we want to ditch? And what is the best way to take back a wedding invite to all of your extended family (we have tips)!

And then they reminisce on Claire’s recent bachelorette party in the woods where everyone talked about their feelings and cried. (And why this was the best!) 

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Subscribe to our newsletter for more refamulating! We share how refamulating looks in our own lives and share what we’re reading and listening to as we make this show. 

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EMAIL: [email protected]. 

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Our team 

Host: Julia Winston

Producer: Claire McInerny 

Audio Engineer: Josh Gilbert

Theme Music: Luke Top

–

We are a member of the Feelings and Co network. 

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For a lot of Americans, it’s getting harder and harder to find community. Fewer people are religious, we move around more and with more things online, we spend less time running errands and interacting with people in real life. In this Refam Chat, Julia talks to Katherine Goldstein, author of the upcoming book "How to Find Your People" and creator of The Double Shift substack, which gives advice on how to cultivate an in person community. 

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Additional Resources: 

Check out Katherine’s newsletter, The Double Shift. 

Here’s her essay about striking up conversations at the farmer’s market and her essay about why introverts need community too. 

Block Party USA- learn how to throw your own block party! 

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Subscribe to our newsletter for more refamulating! We write about how refamulating looks in our lives, share resources we’re using as we make this show and share special bonus content for paid subscribers.

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EMAIL: [email protected]. 

WEBSITE

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TIK TOK

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Our team 

Host: Julia Winston

Producer: Claire McInerny 

Audio Engineer: Josh Gilbert

Theme Music: Luke Top

–

We are a member of the Feelings and Co network.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our culture spends a lot of time talking about the importance of romantic love: finding it, keeping it, and normalizing it as THE most important person in your life. But that completely discounts the deep, meaningful friendships so many of us have. In this Refam Chat, Julia talks with author Rhaina Cohen about her book The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life With Friendship At The Center. Rhaina and Julia talk about the importance of friendship and how many people (including herself) are living with friends, raising kids together and placing friendships at the center of their lives. 

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Check out: 

Rhaina’s book

Rhaina’s Ted Talk 

Rhaina’s newsletter  

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Connect with us: 

EMAIL: [email protected]. 

WEBSITE

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TIK TOK

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Subscribe to our newsletter for more refamulating! We write about how refamulating looks in our lives, share resources we’re using as we make this show and share special bonus content for paid subscribers.

_

Our team 

Host: Julia Winston

Producer: Claire McInerny 

Audio Engineer: Josh Gilbert

Theme Music: Luke Top

–

We are a member of the Feelings and Co network. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Ruthie Ackerman was in her late 30s, she realized she wanted to have a baby. But there was a problem- she was married to someone who didn’t. So, she got divorced and began a transformative process to motherhood. In this Refam Chat, Julia talks to Ruthie about her experience with IVF and egg donation to finally get pregnant, what it was like to confront the stories about motherhood she grew up with, and how she’s created a new definition of motherhood for herself and her daughter.

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Pre-order Ruthie’s memoir The Mother Code now!!!

Anyone who pre-orders the book can attend a writing masterclass with Ruthie on May 5. 

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Connect with us: 

EMAIL: [email protected]. 

WEBSITE

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TIK TOK

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Subscribe to our newsletter for more refamulating! We write about how refamulating looks in our lives, share resources we’re using as we make this show and share special bonus content for paid subscribers.

_

Our team 

Host: Julia Winston

Producer: Claire McInerny 

Audio Engineer: Josh Gilbert

Theme Music: Luke Top

–

We are a member of the Feelings and Co network. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To wrap season 2, we honor and celebrate the unsung heroes of our emotional lives—our closest friends. While we celebrate romantic milestones with parties and gifts, our friendships—often life's most enduring relationships—frequently go unhonored. In this episode, Julia shares an intimate conversation with her platonic soulmate, Lia, about what makes their friendship special and how they’ve stayed close through hard moments that could have separated them.

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The episode transcript can be found here. 

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Subscribe to our newsletter for more refamulating! We write about how refamulating looks in our lives, share resources we’re using as we make this show and share special bonus content for paid subscribers.

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Connect with us: 

EMAIL: [email protected]. 

WEBSITE

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TIK TOK

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Our team 

Host: Julia Winston

Producer: Claire McInerny 

Audio Engineer: Josh Gilbert

Theme Music: Luke Top

–

We are a member of the Feelings and Co network.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show Notes: 

Disagreeing with your family is nothing new. But in the last decade, as politics and culture in the U.S. have become increasingly polarized, so have many of our families. Jedidiah Jenkins felt this kind of division in his family from a young age when he realized he was gay in an evangelical Christian home. Now an adult, Jedidiah has figured out how to maintain a loving, supportive relationship with his mother despite their ideological differences. In this episode, Jedidiah shares how to set boundaries with a parent and how standing your ground with love can lead to deeper understanding.

Read Jedidiah’s book: Mother, Nature: A 5,000-Mile Journey to Discover if a Mother and Son Can Survive Their Differences

Listen to the full conversation with Jedidiah and his mom on his podcast Question The Self.

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The episode transcript can be found here. 

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Subscribe to our newsletter for more refamulating! We write about how refamulating looks in our lives, share resources we’re using as we make this show and share special bonus content for paid subscribers.

_

Connect with us: 

EMAIL: [email protected]. 

WEBSITE

INSTAGRAM

TIK TOK

_

Our team 

Host: Julia Winston

Producer: Claire McInerny 

Audio Engineer: Josh Gilbert

Theme Music: Luke Top

–

We are a member of the Feelings and Co network.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Almost half of American adults are single, yet we still treat being unpartnered as a problem to solve. But being single is not better or worse than being in a relationship, it’s just a different experience. In this episode, Julia interviews her single friends about what they love about being single and how they navigate a world built for couples. Then she chats with author Glynnis MacNicol about challenging the narrative that women need to be partnered to be happy.  

Check out Glynnis MacNicol’s books, No One Tells You This and I’m Mostly Here To Enjoy Myself. You can read her New York Times articles here.

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The episode transcript can be found here. 

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Connect with us: 

EMAIL: [email protected]. 

WEBSITE

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TIK TOK

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Subscribe to our newsletter for more refamulating! We write about how refamulating looks in our lives, share resources we’re using as we make this show and share special bonus content for paid subscribers.

_

Our team 

Host: Julia Winston

Producer: Claire McInerny 

Audio Engineer: Josh Gilbert

Theme Music: Luke Top

–

We are a member of the Feelings and Co network.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Erica spent her childhood living with a disability and needing a lot of care from her mom. As an adult, she’s now the caretaker to two children with disabilities. In this episode, Erica talks about what she learned from her mom as a caregiver, the day to day realities of caring for children who need a lot of assistance and how that impacts her career, her marriage and her finances. 

Check out Erica’s newsletter at Caffeinated Caregivers.

The song featuring Erica’s musical saw was Solar Eclipse by Jenny Johnson.

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The episode transcript can be found here. 

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Connect with us: 

EMAIL: [email protected]. 

WEBSITE

INSTAGRAM

TIK TOK

_

Subscribe to our newsletter for more refamulating! We write about how refamulating looks in our lives, share resources we’re using as we make this show and share special bonus content for paid subscribers.

_

Our team 

Host: Julia Winston

Producer: Claire McInerny 

Audio Engineer: Josh Gilbert

Theme Music: Luke Top

–

We are a member of the Feelings and Co network. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we meet Kathleen Downes- a 31-year-old woman who lives with her parents and dog in New York. Kathleen has cerebral palsy, which means she needs constant care to do daily activities. Kathleen talks about the complicated relationship between care recipients and their families, the broken policies that force impossible choices, and the radical act of finding joy despite a system designed for isolation. 

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The episode transcript can be found here. 

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Connect with us: 

EMAIL: [email protected]. 

WEBSITE

INSTAGRAM

TIK TOK

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Subscribe to our Substack for more refamulating! We write about how refamulating looks in our lives, share resources we’re using as we make this show and share special bonus content for paid subscribers.

_

Our team 

Host: Julia Winston

Producer: Claire McInerny 

Audio Engineer: Josh Gilbert

Theme Music: Luke Top

–

We are a member of the Feelings and Co network. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices