Papparazzi: Who Knows What Makes a Star?

Jam and Dewey are two very different dogs.  Jam is fast, exuberant and filled with charism.  Dewey is slow, cautious and sweet. Jam is Dewey's uncle.  Very, very different boys. And yet, there is a strange attraction to labs.

Photo of Jam running with a frisbee.

 On Friday night after I got home from the Homecoming build, Fred and I took Jam and Dewey to the Smokehouse for dinner.  Turns out that the weekend before Halloween is the Halloween parade for kids and the place was packed! The street was jammed with kids in costume walking with their parents and lots of people waiting in line for a table outside at the Smokehouse.

So, we put our name on the list.  And we waited by the wrought iron fence watching the children walk up and down.  Fred had Dewey and I had Jam.

I once read a story about Marilyn Monroe that I think Susan Strasburg told.  She said that she was walking with Marilyn down the street in New York and no one was paying any attention to her.  Susan asked her about it. Marilyn said she wasn't making any effort to be seen.  Susan asked her what she meant.  Marilyn said, "Watch."

"It was like she turned a light bulb on inside her," Strasburg said. People stopped and stared and then they mobbed them and Susan and Marilyn had to take a cab to escape.

Jam with his light turned off

Jam is a little bit like Marilyn.  He has a little light that shines and on Friday night all the children were drawn to him.  

"Can I pet your dog?"

"Sure."

"Can I pet your dog?" Over and over again.  Several times Jam was completely encircled by princesses, hobos, pirates, batman, and fairies who just wanted to pet his handsomeness. Parents, too, were drawn to him.  While everyone ignored Dewey.

But if Friday night was not Dewey's night, Sunday morning was.  We were down in St. Pete having lunch and a 4th grader and her mom came up and asked, "Is that Dewey?"

"As a matter of fact, it is. How did you know." I asked.  Well, she recognized me, from school. Turns out she is a big Dewey fan and she really wanted to pet Dewey.  Jam, not so much.

Yea Dewey!  Dewey might not have this bright light like Jam, but he inspires love and devotion just as much as Jam does.