Dorinda Medley: For Better or Worse, For Richer or Poorer, In Good Health and in Bad....

Let me tell you a story:

I go to Miami with my pal Bethenny. For reasons that become more obvious to me later, she has invited me to tag along on a trip to deliver cash cards to those in need in Puerto Rico. I'm excited for the journey and to help my friend. We work hard all day getting ready for the trip the following morning. To unwind, we have a few drinks, then a few more. We’ve done this together too many times to count!! Then as I settle in my hotel room to binge-watch my favorite show, Law & Order, order room service, and get a good night's sleep as we had a 6am wakeup call, my phone rings. Oh no! I am meant to be downstairs in five for a dinner. Dinner? With who? Bethenny’s charity partner? Nooooo!!!!!

Why am I just being told this important information? I would have opted out of Bethenny’s happy hour early. But here we are...I am exhausted, and yes already feeling the effects of our happy hour festivities, and yes I should have listened to my inner intoxicated voice and went to bed so I’d be fresh for our morning mission. But I am not one to disappoint, so I put on my Pucci and head downstairs. And....well, the rest is burnt onto the corneas of all the viewers. Yikes. Okay, it wasn’t my best, or worst, that’s for sure! But for better or worse, I was trying to find common ground with people I had just met.

Naturally, Bethenny calls me a drunk. Is she really compassionate or is this just another TV moment? We’ve all seen it before —her absolute glee while waiting for one of us to make a misstep, then she pulls out her P-Touch label maker: whore, drunk, nit-wit, loser. Cue the hug.

My late husband Richard raised millions for humanitarian efforts. In one noted evening at my townhouse, standing alongside Desmond Tutu, they raised nearly 2 million dollars for those affected in Hurricane Katrina. Perhaps that triggered something deep inside and my conversation didn’t come out the way I would have liked. I’m not great at transitions and life changes. Like many of us, at the time of this trip, I was working through some personal stuff.

Does everyone notice that Bethenny not-so-subtly puts people down to make herself look bigger, better, smarter? I often wonder how that is working for her. As far as her referring to my late husband as “slightly powerful and slightly political,” let me get another thing straight: Richard, a man Bethenny never met and, of course, never asked about, was a sought-after advisor to financial icons like George Soros and politicians on both sides of the aisle from senators to presidential candidates. He also served in the Vietnam War and earned a doctorate in political science.

So Bethenny, stick to what you know — the booze business. And by the way, he’s Doctor Medley to you.

Frenemies aside, after 23 years, I am living on my own and focusing on me. It is good and healthy. I am using this time to be selfish and figure out what makes ME, just ME, happy for a change.

Until next week.....