Whoa, I knew I was a little absent on my blog – but almost a month–whew!  Well, as you can imagine, life has happened–but don’t you fear, it just gave me more “stuff” to write about!  Just wait until you read some of the adventures (cough, cough) that I’ve encountered this past Merry month of May!

In honor of today being National Doughnut Day AND even better, my Birthday (whoohoo!) I was reminded of a story about a doughnut or three dozen to be exact.  Since my hubby heard that today was National Doughnut Day and that the wonderful Krispy Kreme was giving away a doughnut to each person who came in he decided “we” should go into Akron to get one…he said, “Because it’s your birthday!”  Ahem…who’s the sugar head in the family dear man?  He even said before bed last night, “We should get up and go when they open at 6 AM before the line starts!”  ARE YOU KIDDING ME???  I’m gonna get up before 6 on a day I don’t have to be up to ride with you to get a doughnut?  AND on MY birthday no less – are you outta your every lasting mind?!

Well, it for sure wasn’t 6, but would you believe he managed to get me out the door by 7:20?!  However, I must say – my knight in shining armor (or doofus in tin foil) did take me to breakfast first.  Oh, because my breakfast was free and he had $2.00 off his meal!  Funny man!

Never fear, though, he did manage to get to the Krispy Kreme to get that free doughnut even if we were nowhere near Krispy Kreme for breakfast!  As we pulled into the parking lot, I saw the sign.  You know the one. The sign that says — HOT DOUGHNUTS.  Then it hit me! Almost like the cars in the story that I remembered!  I began to laugh.  He looked over at me and I kept laughing as I told him, “I know the blog post I NEED to write today!”  He said, “Something about your birthday?”  I said, “Nope, a good ‘ol story about you.”  “Me!” he said.  “Yep, you and HOT DOUGHNUTS!” I said.  He just giggled and shook his head and he lowered his chin down to his chest.  “I sure give you enough material for your blog, don’t I!” he said.   I thought to myself – hmmm, if you only knew my friend!!

Without further ado… The Hot Doughnut Story!

Back in the winter of 2004, Larry (my hubby) and I were watching a food show called “Unwrapped”.  They were talking about Krispy Kreme and were showing how they made them, where they started and many more things about the company.  Then they told that when they had fresh, hot doughnuts they would turn on the sign announcing to passersby they had them.  We both looked at each other and said simultaneously – “I didn’t know that, did you?” and laughed.  Growing up, we had no clue that’s what that meant.  Most of the Krispy Kreme shops in our area had closed down and there were very few around.  We thought that was really neat, but didn’t have opportunity to see one lit or even try a hot doughnut anymore.

Until we went to Myrtle Beach on vacation that August.  We went with another family that year to celebrate the graduation of their “baby” and our “only” from high school.  Since we had been there several times, we decided on one of the days to venture up Highway 17, show them around Myrtle and get supper.  So the six of us adults loaded into our van and off we went.  We did some shopping (you Myrtle fans know you have to hit Broadway on the Beach!),  did some sight seeing and grabbed some supper.  We were heading back south on Hwy 17 to our condo where we were staying when it happened.

IT happened.

A near death experience regarding this IT.

Why?  Because there IT was.

The HOT DOUGHNUT sign turned on and there IT was.

OH MY WORD!  What happened next became the scare of our five lives and a great story to this day.
Noticed I said scare of “five” of our lives.  Not the driver mind you…but have any of you ridden with THIS driver?  And I’m not talking about me!

The HOT DOUGHNUT sign comes on and the sugar head driver sees it.  Did I mention it was on the opposite side of the road?  Have any of you been to Myrtle?  Then you know (or will now) that Highway 17 is more or less a four lane highway.  Most cars go at a pretty good clip, so what happens next was truly a near death experience–for five of us.  Only one was giggling with glee.  Not being mean to the other five–just thrilled to find the HOT DOUGHNUT sign.  Geeeeesh.

So put your virtual vision caps on and picture this.  Ready?

Moving down a four lane highway going an easy 50 mph.  Driver sees the HOT DOUGHNUT sign on the Krispy Kreme building go on, giggles and yells HOT DOUGHNUTS–then shoots over four freakin’ lanes of super fast moving traffic to pull into the last parking spot in the parking lot.  He swoops across the lanes and zeros in on a spot like a bird dive bombing the last worm.  He jumps outta the car and gets in line for doughnuts.  Didn’t ask if anyone wanted one or what kind.  Not sure he even cared at that moment!  Mind you – NO one in the car has said a word.  Not one word.  This is not a quiet bunch either.  At this moment – they were silent.  Wait, they weren’t speaking, but I do believe you could hear five fast beating hearts.

Within a few minutes,  Larry returns to the car with a huge smile and produces three boxes of a dozen each of the HOT DOUGHNUTS.  He hands them to me and says, “Hold these while I get a donut.”  He whips open the top and pulls out two donuts and proceeds to eat them trying to juggle the hot donuts.  Meanwhile, I’m still holding the boxes and the rest of the car is still silent.  He says, “Isn’t anybody gonna try these while they are hot?  And I mean they are hot!”  He just looks at all of us and lowers his eyebrows trying to figure out what’s going on.

Finally, I hear a gasp for air and from the rear bench in the back of the van our daughter blurts out, “Geez, Dad, you nearly killed us for a hot doughnut, was it worth it?”  He giggles and replies, “Yup, these are really hot and really good.”  There’s a really long pause and all you can hear is Larry chomping away on the hot doughnuts.  We then break into hysterics and pass the hot doughnuts around the van.

We have laughed and re-told that story for years.  Anyone who knows Larry and his driving ability (or lack thereof) has always said, “Yeah, I could so see Larry doing that!”  Poor Larry – his reputation goes forth before him!  Oh, and you don’t even want to know how many HOT DOUGHNUTS he actually ate at that time.

To this day when we run across a Krispy Kreme in any of our travels we have a particular ritual we continue to do in our car.  First we brace ourselves, THEN we look for the sign and if it says “IT” – we yell “IT” – and hold on for dear life!!

So – in honor of National Doughnut Day, go find yourself a Krispy Kreme.  If the sign’s not on, ride around until it is.  To make it fun for yourself, don’t let anyone in on this adventure that is in your car.  Once the light is on – make sure you yell—HOT DOUGHNUTS—then swoop into the parking lot and get your free donut today!

….and that’s all I have to say about that!

Tammy