A few weeks ago I went to see the show “Live with Kelly and Michael.” We were lucky enough to sit in the front row. Actually, luck had nothing to do with it; I kept telling the seating lady how pretty her dimples were and she kept moving our seats up. During a commercial break, husband #1 had the opportunity to meet Ms. Ripa and boy was he happy about that. She is a teeny, tiny person. I could put her on a toothpick and have her as snack. I took a picture of the two of them together, put it on Facebook (because if it isn’t on Facebook, it didn’t happen) and titled it Wife #2. He got over 100 likes on that picture. I was not jealous and did not feel threatened by her at all. You see, I am sure that even though she is a petite little beauty, she is not leaving her husband #1 for my husband #1 for many, many reasons. But they did make a really cute couple.
Last week, I took son #3 to see “Live with Kelly and Michael.” Again we were lucky enough to sit in the front row (which really impressed son #3) because I kept telling the seating lady how cute her dimples were. And now we were sitting on Michael’s side of the stage. Michael would be Hall of Fame football player and all around nice, tall and handsome Michael Strahan. He is a really nice man. Nice to the audience, nice to the guests, nice to look at; he has just got it going on. So during the commercial break he came to shake our hands and I asked if I could please take a picture. He, being so chivalrous and adorable, said yes. Picture taken, on Facebook it goes (again, because if it isn’t on Facebook, it didn’t happen) and the caption was Husband #2. Now you would think with the hard time that everyone gives me about giving husband #1 a hard time, everyone would be happy that I have finally found husband #2, but alas, it took a lot longer for me to get over 100 likes on my picture; Which only means that people feel really bad for husband #1 that he has to live with me, and that is ok.
This brings us to the following discussion with son #2. I am sure that he was only talking to me so much because he was in the middle of finals and he is the king of procrastination. I asked him what he thought about the pictures. He went on Facebook, looked at the likes and comments that Kelly Ripa-Ganchrow received and then looked at the comments and likes that Banji Latkin-Strahan received and said, “Wow, I would really have the coolest stepparents ever.” Funny kid. But it would be pretty cool. And it’s never happening. But a husband and wife can dream…
So after the discussion about having the coolest stepparents in the neighborhood, we received a phone call from husband #1’s cousin asking if we could help her out. It seems that her husband was stuck at the office and she had a meeting in Teaneck and could we please watch her 5-year-old and 7-month-old for an hour or so. I went into grandmother mode like nobody’s business. I ran downstairs to the toy closet and located age-appropriate toys, which included things that the 7-month-old could chew on without choking on anything. The 5-year-old was a girl so in my house, that was a challenge, but I located pastel-colored building blocks and we were in business. The kids came over, the girl introduced me to Disney princesses that I didn’t even know existed, the boy looked at us like we were all nuts and my boys had a great time supervising. So cute, so fun and as all the grandparents I know say, “you get to play with them, rile them up and then their parents have to deal with the aftermath.” Yup, just perfect. Which made me think that maybe husband #1 and I are ready to be stepparents to Kelly and Michael’s kids. Maybe we could make it work. So what if my husband’s new wife would be a quarter of my size, my new husband could crush husband #1 like a tuna can. It would be great!
What am I thinking? Son #2, you are right, it would be cool, but we will stick to babysitting other people’s children and keeping our family as is. But I am scheduled to go see Kelly and Michael again in July, so you never know…
Banji Ganchrow has an active imagination. Just like when she thought her Barbie dolls’ hair would grow back after a haircut and she was left with a whole bunch of bald Barbies. She is also very happy that son #1 is home from Israel and that her boys can spend endless hours together leaving empty water bottles all over the house.
By Banji Latkin Ganchrow
