“Order a dozen of whatever you want, but I get one,” I tell her. She is leaving for camp this morning for two weeks; driving up North with four friends, and besides prayer, donuts seem like the appropriate send off.
“Cake with vanilla icing and rainbow sprinkles, right?” she says.
“Yup,” I say. “Because I’m five.”
And because a cake donut with vanilla icing and rainbow sprinkles is the best donut God gave us. I am confident the day of rest came after God came up with the cake donut. “Oceans, mountains, lions, the solar system, and the cake donut,” God said. “I can do no more. Y’all can figure it out from here. Let me take a nap real quick.”
We are behind one other couple who I pay no attention to until the lady behind the counter says, “Oh! Hello! Hello! Is this her? Is this your wife?”
Hadley and I stop discussing which donut is superior and look at the couple. The woman has walked over to where the milk and the juice are, and the man is nodding to the woman behind the counter who is holding the giant white box filled with donuts; tissue paper crinkling like applause with each donut she puts in.
“You did it! You got married!” the woman says. “Congratulations!”
“Thank you,” the man says quietly, and he looks at his wife who is holding two orange juices now.
“He comes in here all the time and talks about you!” the woman behind the counter says. “I’m so happy to meet you.”
The newly married couple smile. Maybe they both say thank you. It is a small and quiet moment and the donut shop swells with it.
The lady behind the counter puts two extra donuts in the box. I knew she was going to do that. She’s always giving donuts away. Once, I came in and ordered a dozen and when I got to twelve she kept saying, “And what else?”
“That’s twelve,” I said.
“And what else?” she asked again and chuckled. “One more just because.”
“Which is the entire reason I suggested we get donuts in the first place: just because.
Just because you’re leaving for two weeks.
Just because this is your first road trip, and there isn’t anything better than a summertime road trip with friends and music and the windows down.
Just because I think I show you too much about order and quiet and you came into my life and brought fire and every other bold and wild thing and going to a donut shop will make us late, you said, and it was I who this time got to say, “Don’t worry,” and I never say that, and it feels so good to say it.
Just because going to a donut shop is not a big adventure, it’s really not anything at all, except you show me the vibrancy in big moments, then let me show you all that sparkles in the small moments: the ding of the donut shop door bell, the whiff of the sugar, the impromptu reception line for strangers who vowed to be together forever, the voice of another as she hands the box over to the man, “Congratulations, congratulations! It’s so good to meet you.”
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I teared up reading this post. It reminded me of my relationship with my mom and brought me back to when I left for college. I am a developing writer – I left this post thinking “I hope I can write words that hit hearts the way hers hit mine.” Thanks for sharing this story ✨
What kind words. Thank you, Kaitlynn.