Everyone manages to stay in character...
 
Last night a group of us from work got together at the Cheesecake Factory... Whirlygirl wasn't there (geography gets in the way sometimes), but other than that it was the same-old, same-old. It's almost as though we were each assigned a specific role to play when we first started getting together over six years ago. And without exception, through the years, everyone manages to stay in character.
 
Erika - provider of travel stories, eye wittiness to many of Jeanne's adventures/ordeals. Can't stand to hear a story she's already heard.
 
Jeremy - target for harassment, friend of all waitresses, and at age 31 - our tribal elder
 
Kristin (not Kristen) - married to Jeremy, unique perspective of never having worked at meditech, casual bowler
 
Jeanne - great audience for comedy... even bad comedy, FULL of stories verifying that her blonde hair is definitely natural, and reaches DEEP beneath the scalp, oh, and VERY phobic.
 
Chenson (his real name is Chris) - married to Jeanne, relatively quiet, but consistently comes up with the best one-liners.
 
Cristina - our most reliable source for meditech gossip, and the only parent in the bunch... so she's the provider of the cutest pictures.
 
Alison - Rhode Island resident, has a husband that she hides from these events, always in charge of dividing up the bill.
 
Hayley - along with Jeanne, she's a great audience for comedy... (probably a factor in why I married her). ex-meditecher, in charge of representing our group in dealings with customer service agents and hostesses.
 
Me - Officially in charge retelling and embellishing any conversations that begin with "remember the time...".
 
Last night and always, (much like an episode of Seinfeld), you'd be hard pressed to figure out of there was a theme or reason for the night out. Supposedly, it was to catch the end of pumpkin cheesecake season, but only one slice was consumed at our table-for-nine. We kept alive multiple, simultaneous conversations throughout the 4 hours of waiting and eating. Maybe half were new stories, and the remainder rehashed from previous outings... outings with same cast and same setting. Most of the oldies, but goodies (much to Erika's dismay) were stories told by me.
 
Since there's no real way to sum up ALL that went on, here are ten of the best comic moments:
 
10) Jeanne's stories of chasing down a luggage thief on her Jamaican honeymoon.
 
9) Kristin (not Kristen) wishing that her doctor would prescribe a couple months of maternity bed rest even though she's not pregnant.
 
8) Jeremy's girly, pink drink with not one, but two chunks of fruit hanging from it.
 
7) Jeanne explaining that she rides up-escalators just fine... and she can get off down escalators "like a big girl"... but (as we witnessed) she's not at all comfortable getting onto a down-escalator. She's like a 9-year-old pausing and measuring the rhythm to get ready for some double-dutch jump-roping.
 
6) Chenson turning (after said escalator incident) and saying simply "You should have seen her before".
 
5) Jeanne saying that Chenson's car really ought to be called "Max the Malibu", but that obviously she's not in any position to decide what to call it.
 
4) Jeremy asking if Whirlygirl still drives the Barbie car that I bought tires for.
 
3) Jeanne, completely out of the blue, reaches under the mall's decorative Christmas tree and hands a fake gift to a passerby saying "Congratulations, you're our one-millionth escalator rider".
 
2) Hayley recruiting everyone present to live in Natick... it's like she works for the Chamber of Commerce.
 
1) Finding out the Georgie the rabbit is "passionate" about anything small and furry, including Felix the stuffed bear, and Jeanne's cat... who apparently "doesn't really mind Georgie's advances".