Bethanny Ever After

Does anyone else watch Bethanny Ever After? I know it is a reality show, and should really be below my sense of intellectual curiosity, but I'm not much of an intellectual, and I love reality TV, even if I  have to watch it alone. People are interesting. They just are! My husband argues that reality TV is not really reality, but some producers version of what might sell. Yeah, yeah, I know. But real personalities peek through, and you do get a sense of some of these people's idiosyncrasies, their character, their vulnerabilities, and their sense of right and wrong. And to me - that's interesting. Human beings are interesting!

Okay, so now on to Bethanny. If you haven't watched Real Housewives of New York City over the last couple of years (minus this year) you may not know who she is, but she is living a fairy tale life, and it all started just a couple of years ago.

Bethanny grew up lonely, there is no doubt about that. Her mother was dysfunctional and her father non-existent. She raised herself, and has been basically on her own her whole life. She wanted a husband and a family, it just didn't seem to be happening. That is, until about a year ago...

All in one year - she got a cookbook deal for her Skinny Girl food line, has written two cookbooks, found a great guy and got married, had a baby,  created a Skinny Girl Margarita (which is being sold for a bizillion dollars), has her own reality show, competed on Skating With the Stars coming in second place, sells out theatres to women who are dancing in the aisles waiting to hear her speak, and may be moving to Los Angeles! What's not to love?

But beyond that she is vulnerable, grateful, kind, funny, and totally likable. She collects people, recognizing that each person has a wonderful gift, and that not everyone has the same gift. I love that about her. Probably more than anything else, I love that about her. She sees through the geeky food buff, who has a hard time talking to people, to the passionate heart that loves food and comes alive when he writes - she then figures out how he can join the fun with a part time job in her company. Just one in her managerie.

She knows she is neurotic and tries hard not to take it out on all the people around her - and there are plenty around her - all seemingly living with them in their small apartment in Tribeca. (Not really, it just seems that way.)

I know she will not do this show forever. She is a multi, multi-bizillionaire now. But I, for one, will miss her and her sweet husband, absolutely adorable baby girl, and all of the characters that she collects. She is the Cinderella story of our time. The lonely woman who had a clanging biological clock, with no viable prospects, that finally found her prince and so much more.

Life is amazing, and Bethanny is living proof.