Third Wheels Are the Best Wheels

Love Letters

The Boston Globe

Relationships, Society & Culture

4.5 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2026

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Third wheeling has long had a bad reputation. If you’re a single person, you may have heard that hanging out with a couple makes you the odd person out. But Meredith doesn’t believe that. She LOVES third wheels – and has third wheeled with plenty of couples. In this episode, Meredith’s sister, Brette, explains how her social life, as a newly divorced person, involves hanging out with a bunch of wonderful couples. Brette says that being a third wheel has broadened her community and enriched her soul. Meredith also interviews Brad and Marco, one of the couples for whom Brette third wheels. They explain why having a shared friend makes their relationship stronger. Consider this episode a guide to being a platonic third, and a love letter to third wheels and the couples who truly believe “the more the merrier.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Philly Cheese Stack is back at McDonald's and it's still intensely cheesy.
0:04.0	Imagine the cheesiest thing ever. Now cover it in cheese. Add two beef patties,
0:07.5	cheddar cheese sauce, crispy onions and even more cheese. The Philly Cheese Stack.
0:11.9	Did we mention it's cheesy? Available until the 16th of March,
0:15.6	2026 from 11 AM. Fees apply to delivery orders. Price and participation may vary, subject to availability.
0:20.2	McDonald's wraps, all flavour, no mess. No drips on your drip or grease on your shirt. No crumbs on your keyboard or sauce on your dashboard. Just all the flavour of sweet chili chicken, barbecue and bacon chicken and new Tika chicken. Wrapped up neat. Served after 11am. Tika chicken wrap available until the 13th July 26.
0:38.3	Fees applied to delivery orders subject to availability.
0:41.1	300 years of expertise in every twining sleep blend.
0:47.1	100 hours of craft in every cup.
0:51.0	Eight natural ingredients in every sip.
1:15.6	One night of winding down in every drop. Your moment of serenity. Brought to you by twining sleep. Twinings. Alive in every drop. A few months ago, I was on the phone with my newly divorced sister, Brett,
1:20.3	and she told me that her social life in Palm Springs had become hanging out with all couples.
1:27.4	And she loved it.
1:30.4	She's still relatively new to Palm Springs after many years of living in New York.
1:35.3	She hoped that when she moved to this new town,
1:38.2	she could find one building where a bunch of cool people lived
1:41.3	so she could have instant friends.
1:43.8	Kind of like the show Friends, actually.
1:46.3	She'd tell me, Meredith, I just want adult college.
1:50.1	But the reality was, there was no magic building full of instant best friends.
1:55.9	No Melrose's place.
1:57.8	At least not for her.
	...

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