Deirdre Talks About Life on the Ranch with the Kids and Gramps

Imus complimented his wife today on her appearance, kindly pointing out that she looked as good this morning, with no makeup on, as she does when she goes over to Fox and gets all made up prior to going on television. Maybe she was glowing from all the time spent working with kids at the Imus Ranch.

“It’s intense,” Deirdre told her husband, who admitted he’s usually either taking a nap or playing chess, and spends less time with them than she does. “For me, it’s the best thing I do.”

After all, during the ten days they spend at the ranch, the kids look at Deirdre and Imus as surrogate parents. Well, sort of.

“They call me mom,” she said. “And they call you crazy grandpa.”

Tomorrow they’ll pick up the next and fifth go-round of kids, which will consist of those who have lost siblings to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Over the years, both Imuses have noticed that these kids tend to have as many problems as the cancer kids do.

“Frankly, it’s sometimes more challenging,” Deirdre pointed out.

The fundamental message of Imus Ranch has always been not to be defined by you disease, a notion Imus felt very intimately when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

“People started treating me differently,” he said. “Friends of mine would start wondering how I’m feeling, and I know they didn’t care.”

Proving that the ethos of the Ranch is alive and well, Deirdre reported that the very first rodeo champion this summer was a boy named Tristan, who had just one good leg.

“He was literally hopping around, and ended up doing it faster than the other kids,” she said. “They psychological aspects take over, and the kid’s that willing to try the hardest and overcome those things they have going on with them end up winning.”

Since no appearance by Deirdre would be complete without some awful prognostication for the environment, she noted the toxicity of the chemicals being used to help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

“We need better ways, newer ways of handling oil spills,” she said calmly, adding that a bunch of kids from Pensacola were recently at the Ranch. “All they were talking about was going home and probably seeing the oil.”

Oh darn it, time to go. And just when we were getting to the good stuff.

-Julie Kanfer