I don't spend very much time thinking about celebrities, really. I don't read People or Us Weekly. Even in a waiting room, I'm more likely to pick up a news magazine or, heck, even Better Homes and Gardens (though I need to be clear that neither my home nor my garden is what anyone would describe as "better"). The only time I look at People is when my alternatives are Sports Illustrated and Field and Stream. Really, though, in the years since I got a smartphone, I'm more likely to be looking at that than at a magazine.
Usually the only times I read about celebrities are when they have committed a crime and ended up in the regular news, or when they have said something about gay people. When the latter is the case, the rainbow unicorn flashes in the sky like the bat signal, and I need to know what they've said. "Gay people on television!" still makes me run for the TiVo remote.
My brushes with fame are few and far between. When I was in college, Audra McDonald and I knocked each other over on the stairs at a studio in New York. She was hurrying down, I was hurrying up, and bam! We both said "excuse me," and she was polite enough to act like it was just as much her fault as it was mine, which is really unlikely, but it was very nice of her to pretend. And now your life has been enriched by that thrilling tale of fame.
It's worth noting, though, that of all my blog posts, the one in which I yell at Rupert Everett is the one that has received far and away the most views.
I've never really compared my life with depictions of celebrities and found myself wanting, though. I mean, sure, fancy events with interesting people look great, but I'd be just as awkward at an opening-night gala as I am at the damned grocery store, or even more so, because I am truly, truly awkward and out of my element at large parties. Heck, last week I introduced myself to one of the dads at my son Jordan's summer school because I'd had a nice conversation with his wife (and because I've seen him every morning for two years and we still hadn't said hello), and I managed to stumble over "good morning" pretty spectacularly. And that was just a party of two! You should see what I can do when there are dozens of strangers!
And then along came Neil Patrick Harris.
Before Neil Patrick Harris came out, got a gorgeous and talented partner, and had kids, there weren't any really widely known models of gay dadhood for people to assume that I would be like. Sure, there are plenty of other gay dads out there, but very few of them are household names, and most of those household names have only become fathers in the last five years or so.
The list of really famous gay dads is still pretty short. It's basically Ricky Martin, Elton John, and Neil Patrick Harris. Right off the bat we can eliminate Ricky Martin. Not a single person on this Earth has ever, for even a fleeting moment, wondered if my life might be anything like Ricky Martin's. And I don't think anyone has ever wondered if there is anyone out there who has a life like Elton John's. Too ridiculous to contemplate.
But if the only three gay dads you've ever heard of are Ricky Martin, Elton John, and Neil Patrick Harris, you might start to wonder if maybe Neil Patrick Harris is kind of, sort of like me.
In the broadest strokes, Neil Patrick Harris and I might seem like vaguely similar sorts of people. We're about the same age. (He's five years older than I am, but I look five years older than he does, so I guess that's a wash!) He's an actor. I... have acted, and I studied theater in college and worked in theater before I decided to stay at home with the boys. (Spoiler alert: Managing a theatrical box office is not in any way similar to acting.) We have similar body types, I guess, though his would best be described as well-cared for, and mine, well... not. We both have kind of corny, punny senses of humor. (The difference is that when Neil Patrick Harris makes a joke, people laugh, and when I make a joke, people smile, nod, and take a few steps back. The summer I worked at the GAP, my boss told me that customers might find my sense of humor off-putting. That was a big confidence booster!) The primary similarities, though, are that we're both gay men and we both have two kids.
I have taken my children to playdates only to witness the palpable, growing disappointment of the other parents when they realize that we are not, in fact, the Harris-Burtka family. (How sweetly their names hyphenate. Now try hyphenating Vigorito-Horowitz with a straight face. Can't. Be. Done.) They start out excited. Maybe they'll have new, exciting gay best friends! Then they find out how boring we are and how poorly my children behave. Oh, you thought maybe I'd show you a new place to go antiquing and put on a puppet show while the kids snack on these amazing kale popsicles I made? Sorry, we're going to sit here and smile awkwardly at each other while my son tantrums because most playdates just have too many transitions for him to handle. Bonus! You can judge my parenting because hugging your kids when they're upset helps them feel better, and hugging mine when he's upset just turns a disaster into a catastrophe.
Neil Patrick Harris makes parenting sound amazing, all the time. Just look at this interview he did where he makes kids spitting up on the carpet sound... cute and refreshing! "They'll do something that blows your mind and then they'll spit all their food out on the carpet." Maybe I'm just doing it wrong, but I have a hard time imagining that he's ever knelt, crying and trying not to retch, cleaning poopy footprints and handprints out of the carpet when one of his children decided that what was inside their diaper really belonged on the floor. No one who has had to do that ever truly looks happy again. Not that happy.
Also, if we're being honest, I'm maybe a little jealous. My husband is (not very) secretly in love with Neil Patrick Harris. It started out innocently enough, but then Neil Patrick Harris helped make his dreams come true.
Flashback: About seven years ago, my husband Austin and one of his friends decided to go watch a taping of The Price Is Right while Bob Barker was still hosting.
"Do you want to come?" he asked.
"Sure, why not?" I said.
"Great. It'll mean sleeping on the sidewalk outside the studio so we're at the front of the line! Doesn't that sound like fun?"
No. No, in fact, sleeping on a sidewalk in L.A. sounds much closer to my vision of Hell on Earth than it does like fun. So I waved and smiled and stayed home to take care of the dog. I didn't know I was sending my husband off into the arms of another man. Neil Patrick Harris, of course (in case you decided to start reading at this paragraph).
So Austin and his friend sleep on the sidewalk, and they get to watch a taping of The Price Is Right. Neither of them is picked as a contestant, but they have a great time. And then something ridiculous happens.
An episode of How I Met Your Mother is taping a segment on the set of The Price Is Right. So in addition to being in the audience for a real episode of The Price Is Right, they're in the fictional audience for Barney Stinson's appearance on The Price Is Right. And they're sitting right behind Neil Patrick Harris. They pat him on the shoulders and cheer when he's chosen as a contestant. (Season 2, episode 20. Whatever.)
He comes home, and there's a twinkle in his eye when he tells me, "Neil Patrick Harris is even more beautiful in person than he is on TV."
Great.
So if someday Neil Patrick Harris is seeking a new husband, Austin won't hesitate. And really, who could blame him? I mean, if we're running the numbers on this, Neil Patrick Harris is the clearly superior choice in literally every way. I don't think I could even be mad about it.
I liked it better before Neil Patrick Harris was showing us all up all the time.
This blog post originally appeared on gaygeekdad.com.