What does the buffalo say?

Some of the women of MAS - this is from the 2014 Christmas Party

Last year, in 2014, the women who usually go out to lunch on Administrators' Day at the lab where I work, did not go out on the actual Admins Day because one person was sick with strep throat and everyone else was too busy! It took several weeks to find a date when all of them could actually go to lunch together, and then they asked me to go along! They picked Ted's Montana Grill up 141 near 400.

   There were 7 of us at a round table – and some might say we were obnoxious, but others would be kinder and say we were merely having a boisterously good time. In the midst of stuffed crab-cakes and wondering, yeah, a cow says “moo”, but what does a buffalo say? we laughed a lot.  We laughed so hard, the waitress began to take it personally. But we weren't laughing at her, we were just making random buffalo noises!

     Back at the lab afterward, one co-worker mentioned how wonderful it is to work with such a group of women who can go out to lunch together and laugh to the point of tears streaming down our cheeks!

    That comment reminded me of a letter I got years ago from a dear friend. She had been dating and was between relationships when she wrote “I'm looking for someone who makes me laugh so hard I pee my pants!” And I thought at the time, indeed – those are the people we should be hanging around with – life is too short, really, to spend it any other way!

    Hang out with those who make you laugh so hard you cry - the peeing one's pants part is no longer a criterion – just about anything makes me pee my pants these days – a cough, a sneeze, a sudden movement. Peeing my pants? No. But laughing until I cry? Oh yeah.

     My friend has been married now for many years to a guy who still makes her laugh every day. Every so often I thank her via e-mail for the memory of the line in her letter from so long ago which became one of my rules to live by.  And I too have found and married  a guy who makes me laugh (a super great wonderful guy!). And at the lab, I am grateful to be able to work every day - with some of the finest folks I have ever known – especially the women - who make me laugh until I cry. Life is too short to spend it otherwise.....

      But I think we will stay away from Ted's Montana Grill for a while.