Fame in Conversation - Erin Carney

In the small town of Woodstown, NJ, tales of fame and fortune are never seen and rarely even heard about. This is where I grew up. Not only does this town lack to produce anyone worth hearing about, it also lacks any attractions that might catch the eyes of the rich and famous. This being said, I’ve never met anyone remotely famous in my entire life. The closest I’ve ever been to a well-known icon was when I was about seven or eight years old. I was at a Phillies game that ex-Flyers star Eric Lindros also happened to be attending. At the time, I was a shy little kid and chose to observe the crowd that followed this poor man from a distance. Fast forward about fifteen years to my present day job at the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House, and I can still say that I have not yet been graced with the presence of anyone famous (Ronald does not count).

One afternoon last week, after I finished with my classes, I headed off to work. When I arrived, everyone was in the cafeteria eating lunch. I walked in to say hello, and as I grabbed a chair to sit down, my boss casually said she had some news for me. Before she announced the news, everyone was just calmly eating lunch as they always would and nothing really seemed different. Apparently, Sarah Ferguson, who is currently the global Ronald McDonald House Charities Ambassador for World Children’s Day, will be coming to our House in Philly next week to promote awareness for World Children’s Day. While she is here, Fergie will also be reading a children’s book that she wrote, Little Red.

During the half hour that my co-workers and I were at lunch, my knowledge of this organization’s brushes with fame grew immensely. When it comes to fame and charities, they are often required to go hand-in-hand. So I guess it makes sense that none of my coworkers were too enthralled with the news that they received earlier that morning. I’ve only been working at the Ronald McDonald House for about six months, but over the course of its thirty-three year existence, this House and the people who work here have seen their share of celebrities.

After my boss let us in on the Fergie news, people began to nonchalantly tell stories about all of the well-known people they’ve met in their days. It seemed like everyone had something to say. A couple of my co-workers got a chance to see President Bush (senior) when he spoke at a ceremony at the House one year. Another long time employee had met several of the Eagles players back in the 70s, including former tight end, Fred Hill and general manager Jim Murray (both of these men were involved with the creation of the very first Ronald McDonald House). Someone who went down to New Orleans to do hurricane relief for Katrina was able to meet Archie Manning of the Saints. Somebody else was doing who knows what and ran into Kelis, the singer. The list went on and on and on. The one thing that I noticed was that everyone was more than willing (you might even go as far to say “excited”) to share their stories, however they all made it seem like it was no big deal. They gave the impression that they run into celebrities all of the time. After a while we all went back to work, not because we ran out of stories to tell, but because we ran out of lunch to eat.

A few days later, when I went home on Easter Sunday to have dinner with my family, I decided that I would bring up the conversation about our special visitor coming into work. Dinner guests included my immediate family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I waited until we had all sat down to eat so that I could have everyone’s attention. At first I started the conversation by explaining that the Duchess of York had a new children’s book out called Little Red. Not one person even glanced up from his or her plate. After that, I decided to tell them that the reason I knew this information was because Fergie is a Ronald McDonald House Ambassador. Again, a few grunts, but not many people seemed to be interested in what I was talking about. Finally, I couldn’t hold it in any longer so as calmly as I could, I stated that she would be reading her new book at the Philly House next week sometime and that I would get to meet her. About .23 milliseconds after I told this exciting news to my family, all of whom were born and bread in exciting Woodstown, they started a rapid fire of questions in my direction. “Will you get to talk to her...You should get her to autograph her book for me…Try to get in a picture with her…Is anyone else important coming with her?” These comments and questions are just a few examples of what was spewing out at the dinner table that night.

After I answered all of the questions and had a nice long conversation with my family, who at this point were genuinely interested about Ms. Of York, I realized the big difference between talking with my co-workers about this experience and talking to my family about it. People who have been in contact with someone famous before are more likely to try to one-up each other with their experiences. While they are trying to out-do the previous person, they still have this dismissive sense of composure followed by a kind of oh-that’s-nothing aura about them. For a person who has never met anyone famous before, there is a lot more of the “wow” factor present and he or she tends to act a little bit more humble about the whole situation.