Boyfriends

When Amanda and Elisabeth were younger, one of our favorite jokes was about a "boyfriend." One of the girls would say, "Daddy's my boyfriend," and then I would feign upset and argue, "Oh, no you don't. Daddy's my boyfriend. Go find your own!"

Earlier, when I was a young woman first working in the television industry, female colleagues and I would joke about "boyfriends." This was a little, inside joke about male coworkers with whom we particulary enjoyed working. It had nothing to do with love or romance, but more with the fact that these men were competent at their jobs and gave us the respect we needed in our positions.

Then, there are the "boyfriends" on the individual lists my girlfriends and I keep. We tease our husbands about their "girlfriends" (Todd's include Ashley Judd and, now, Lea Michele.) And we have our own rotating rosters of the hot and famous with whom we wouldn't mind hanging out. Naturally my boyfriend list contains the obvious names of Matthew McConaughey...

...and Taye Diggs.

And I have some weird ones in there, too, like Stephen Baldwin.

But, today, while watching "Million Dollar Listing," I couldn't help thinking about how I am drawn to Josh Flagg.

There are the obvious obstacles: he's spoiled, pretentious, Jewish, about 14 years old, and quite possibly homosexual. Maybe it's more that I want to be Josh's mother than his girlfriend. Although, we do meet his mother on the show, and she's an interesting character, too. We haven't even gotten to Josh's grandma-- which, now that I think about it, is the real reason I watch the show. Edith Flagg is this old, classy, Jewish pip, who's also a shrewd businesswoman (she's credited with introducing polyester to the United States) and a guilt-ladeling matriarch.

Maybe I really want the grandma to be my boyfriend...