On Being Teri Hatcher: New Jersey Teen Shines as Celebrity Lookalike for the Desperate Housewife

My youngest daughter has been a constant source of joy, surprise, determination and motivation to all of us in our family. Somehow, that nine pound, six ounce newborn apparently sucked from some pretty impressive gene pools; at fifteen, she stands a healthy six feet tall, with flawless skin, teeth carefully straightened and toned by two years of braces, long, thick dark hair,  and an amazingly positive outlook on the world. 

As a youngster, she was the consummate 'jock'; during her short life, she has played soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, basketball, tennis, and has done competitive diving and running hurdles in track. We used to joke that the last time she appeared (willingly) in a dress was for her First Communion - but that was back in the day. 

When she turned twelve, we started to get telephone calls from local modeling agencies asking us to bring her in for an interview. They liked her look, they liked her height, they really, really liked her height! I honestly don't remember much about those first interviews back then; they remain a blur of my daughter sitting on the edge of her seat, bluntly telling the agency representative that she WASN'T INTERESTED in working for them. WASN'T INTERESTED! Oh my gosh, I thought, is this the beginning of a difficult or different kind of adolescence?

But wait! When she turned fourteen, Astrid had an (unknown to us!) change of heart. She wanted to pursue a career in modeling! We signed with several agencies, but I found that Astrid's most interesting job was one that I obtained for her myself.  Acting as her mother/agent (she is an independent modeling contractor; we have politely declined to have her sign an exclusive contract with any one agency to date), I perused that Godsend of web sites, Craig's List. And there was an ad on Craig's List under the New York listings to which I just had to respond...