It must have been a peculiar sight to the checker who remarked, “Wow, that’s a lot of sprinkles on that doughnut.” I wasn’t buying a dozen doughnuts for the family; I was buying a single, “real” doughnut for myself.
What came out of my mouth was, “It brings out the kid in me.”
The intersection down the street from where I live has three grocery stores; only one of them sells “real” doughnuts.
“Real” as in: just as good as one would find at a doughnut shop.
At the end of my morning walk I began to crave a “real” chocolate raised doughnut. I chose one that had red, white and blue sprinkles on it…so covered with sprinkles was this doughnut that I had to examine it closely to be certain it had chocolate frosting.
It did have a lot of sprinkles, and it did bring out the kid in me. And as I ate it, I felt like I was five years old again.
I was that five-year-old whose parents took her and her younger sister to Spudnuts doughnut shop in our hometown of Broomfield some mornings while her four older sisters were at school…
I was that five-year-old who loved going places with my mommy and daddy, no matter where that was.
I was that five-year-old whose parents were still together and seemed to enjoy one another’s company.
I imagine that good doughnuts take me to those precious few years when I was oblivious to any problems my parents had…before my eyes began to see things as they actually were…before I began to know more about the world than any young child should know.
© Alexa Lopez, 2009
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