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By Root 319 0

after more drama and yelling, we packed our stuff in a U-Haul to move into the Two Liberty Place apartment building we were supposed to be staying in for the rest of the season, but in a continuation of the disaster that was our life, they moved us into an eight-hundred-square-foot model suite—you know, one of the places you tour when you’re considering moving into a building. Sometimes they have fake TVs made out of plastic or fake fruit in the refrigerator. Well, that was our new home. For a family whose life was being filmed by a camera crew for a reality TV show, things couldn’t have been more ironic. I expected to one day wake up next to Hank and realize he was just a cardboard cutout or, even worse, his stunt double. But we had no choice but to take it.

I had never lived in a condo before, let alone a skyscraper type of situation. Every time I left my apartment building there were people waiting out front to see me. I had my two dogs with me, Martini and Rascal, and they too weren’t used to this urban lifestyle. Plus I had to get a dog walker to avoid the crowds out front who would follow me when I tried to walk them. Everywhere I went with my baby, people were pointing at me. It was a hassle, and it was a little scary. I just wanted to click my heels together and make it all go away. We were not in Hollywood anymore. I was slowly losing my grip on any bit of sanity I had left and my mood was sinking lower and lower.

Any attempts at normalcy were met with even more bizarre results. We hadn’t had a chance to go shopping yet because of the less-than-comfortable living situation, so we didn’t have anything like soap or shampoo or any home products (we had been using the hotel’s products, which the housekeeping service replenished on days when we removed the Do Not Disturb sign). So my first shower in the model shower I was using the model soap to wash myself. I think it had been sitting there for a year; it was as hard as a rock and completely impervious to water.

A month later, when we started actually filming the show we had to take everything we had and move from the thirtieth floor—a.k.a. the model suite—to the fiftieth floor, a much bigger place more suited for shooting a TV show. The new apartment actually belonged to Richie Sambora (from Bon Jovi). He didn’t live there much and because of the economy he didn’t want to sell it and take a loss, so he loaned it out to the building as another model or party room. We moved into it and we were using model silverware and model plates and all showroom-type stuff. It was like a joke! It was like living in a home furnishings store—don’t touch the china! At least it was big.

Putting on smiles even through all our moves. Look: clothes on luggage cart—check-in time!

Finally we got settled and we started getting routines down. I was beginning to feel comfortable again, and I could sense Hank Jr. relaxing a little. That’s exactly when Hank got cut from the Eagles. Just when I got over being really pissed at him and started thinking, “Well, at least we’ve got each other and he’s playing for the Eagles and the show is working out; we’ll go shopping and get some stuff and we’re in this big building and winter will come and we’ll play in the snow and it’ll be an experience and they’ll film it all,” Hank got cut and our future became uncertain again.

It all came as a complete shock, and we totally weren’t prepared for it. Given that games are played each week on Sundays (he was cut in the middle of the season), he had to fly to Minnesota just hours after he got cut to join a new team that wanted him, the Minnesota Vikings. There was no time for good-byes or to pack. It was just like, “Okay, you’re on a new team now, their color is purple, go and join them.” Obviously it’s not the greatest thing to have your husband just up and leave the town he made you move to, but I was supportive. Sort of.

The crazy thing about reality shows is that while most of it seems fun and fluffy, they do catch a lot of the moments that maybe you wish they weren’t around for. When Hank got the