Milkshake Reveries

“I really want a milkshake!” Super Swimmer Woman shakes her head and laughs to herself as she continues to rub lotion all over her tanned toned body.
“Me too!” PP yells down the aisle of lockers as she pulls on her suit. “I’m starving.”
“You’re always starving.”
“Yeah, I know. But a milkshake would certainly solve the problem.”

“I went to this place in Piedmont last weekend where you could make your own shakes. Well, not actually make them. They were pre-made. What you did was get one out of the freezer section and then you could mix it up at their shake machine and it was like you were making one fresh yourself.”

“Yum. What flavor did you get?”
”Strawberry. I love strawberry,” SSW grinned.
“Me too! Everyone always wants chocolate or vanilla, but I love strawberry!” PP agrees, trying to stave off the hunger pangs before she plunges into the pool. It really is too late to swim. 8:45-9:30 p.m. She hadn’t eaten in over 6 hours. But what to do? It wasn’t like she could pack a milkshake and bring it with her to the pool.

“I love the strawberry shakes with the real pieces of strawberries in them,” SSW is in Milkshake Reverie now.
“Oh, I don’t.” PP wrinkles her nose. “I like the really bad fake creamy ones. Like the ones you get at MacDonald’s.”





“They have strawberry ones at MacDonald’s?”
“Yeah. They’re super trashy and delicious. You know with the little bit of vanilla swirl still at the top with the pink oozy syrup not quite stirred in.”
“Oh, yeah. I’ll have to check ‘em out. I didn’t think MacDonald’s would have strawberry.”


PP nods as she snaps on her mask and inserts the completely ineffectual earplugs. (This is another blog--why oh why don't earplugs work anymore? even the new ones? the ringing in her ears is evidence of their ineffectiveness but....okay, see? Definitely another blog)

But in her own silent world now she remembers how her mom and sisters used to go to MacDonald’s when they were kids and just get milkshakes. And how her mom went on these milkshake ‘diets’ where all she had all day was just a MacDonald’s milkshake (she believes it was strawberry—maybe this is where PP’s taste for the pink variety stems from?) and then she remembers another offshoot of this ‘diet’ where her mom would just drink one eggnog all day.




These liquid treat diets seemed so fun and exotic to PP as a child. Maybe that’s why she still enjoys stopping off at MacDonald’s on her way up and down Hwy 5, in Santa Maria, or King City, or some other godforsaken truck stop, but there’s always a McDonald’s and she always just wants a Strawberry shake. (Well, sometimes DHBF will tempt her with some fries.)

Milkshakes. Who knew that a simple wistful desire voiced out loud in the women’s locker room of the Oakland Y could inspire such a tasty blog.

Strawberry shake anyone? (Of course, after the pool!)