Some of the three of you who read this know that I just had surgery on my inner beauty. I mean interior monologue. I had an ovary removed and both Fallopian tubes. The joke at the end of Diving for Pearls, “…and now I’m barren!” is now both truth and fiction. It is my reality with a wig on. I don’t need to create yet another honk-shoe extemporaneous mothering boob-a-logue regarding my feelings about having kids. I think it would be awesome if motherhood was given about one percent of the air time it’s getting now. If it were balanced out by enthusiastically disseminated tales of women living vibrant lives in career and otherwise, I could stand it a little more. But it’s feeling like throwback time on the La Leche Information Superhighway. I want to hear about women with political power. I want to hear about women artists. I want to hear about women traveling across continents with sweat and sunburns and medical supplies. I want to hear about women raising cats alone in a yurt. I want to hear any and every tale of women in all corners of the world giving a righteous FUCK YOU to unreasonable power structures. I want all manner of other news too but I want A LOT MORE (not even childless, but just non-motherhood-focused) WOMAN.

Last Thursday I was granted permission to exercise again, with caution. It was two weeks past my surgery. I made plans with my friends Bob and Yong-Ki to drive to the North Bay to skate. We jumped into Bob’s VW van with Dixie the Dog and hit McInnis skatepark. Do you know it? If you are looking to blow a giant wad of money for a great reason but still get it wrong, McInnis is your inspiration. It should be incredible but has an inexcusable lack of pool coping. That bitchily said, it’s still possible to have a lot of fun in a weirdly designed mini-bowl with your insides asunder and giant kneepads.

Dixie keeps her cool under the van.

Then we went to Novato. The skatepark there is one of my favorites. The hips are perfectly placed, the flow area is fun, and there are fun places to drop in and practice whatever weird stuff is grabbing you.

Then we picked up the chiminea Bob bought off of craigslist in Petaluma. I napped right next to the smelly stovepipe that mounts on the top. Dixie stood over me with her paws making a cage around my head. Bob and Yong-Ki talked about art and skateboarding. If I had looked I’m sure the landscape flashing by was beautiful except for the gas stations. I took a bunch of ibuprofen and felt a couple points in my abdomen ache. It was hot outside and for that I was grateful. I miss hot summers. I miss warm nights.