We’ve got a number of family mottos ’round these parts. Go Big or Go Home. We bite Food, not Friends. Sunglasses: On your Face or in the Case. And of course our mother of all mottos: Brothers Stick Together.
Another one goes something like: We’ve Never had a Good Donut Day.
I’ve said this so much so that our sugar-sensitive, King of Hanger is actually a teeny bit scared of eating ’em. Like a kid with severe allergies, he’s wary of donuts. I feel a wee bit bad about this, and then I remember the time when Jacob was four or so and he had such a donut-induced meltdown on the side of a soccer field that two-year-old Nate is sobbing that we’re going to leave Jacob on the side of the road in San Jose. And we seriously might. Score one for Brothers Stick Together.
So the end of our Christmas vacation this year took place in Carlsbad– home of the infamous Legoland and the San Diego Safari Park. On our last morning, on our walk back to the hotel from breakfast, we pass a super cute, hipster donut shop called The Goods. There’s this lady sitting at the window counter by herself. She locks eyes with James as she’s eating her donut with two-hands. Even through the glass and the glare and the gold-leaf window logos, her eyes scream, “Get in here!” She stops us in our donut avoidance tracks.
The case of confections is beautiful. Stunning really. I’ve never seen prettier donuts, not even in Portland. And they have a lot of pretty donuts.
So we go with Go Big or Go Home and try to laugh off We’ve Never had a Good Donut Day. We leave with two beautiful donuts, one gluten-imprisoned and one gluten-free. Both with a glistening layer of chocolate glaze.
Then we get back in the car and continue our drive north. At some point, Nate and Jake confess to having figured-out how to change the passwords on their iPads. They giggle in that conspiratorial way that dates all the way back to the origin story of the bum-bum. There’s something about thinking you’ve outsmarted Mama that brings out the belly laughs.
An hour or so after lunch at the SBPM (our serious fave) and half a donut each, we’re back in the Budget Rent-An-Explorer. My half was seriously the best donut I’ve ever had.
I sense some concern emanating from the backseat. The password changing has gone off the rails. Nate’s locked out of his iPad. He’s tried all the things he may have changed it to. It’s now disabled. Daddy, without sympathy, breaks the news that the only way back in is to wipe the thing clean. All your stuff is lost. Gone. Ay-dios. The perils of iPad password hanky-panky.
Jacob is now crying. Another point for Brothers Stick Together. He’s crying and beating himself up because he never should have taught Nate how to change the password. It’s all his fault. He implores Nate to remember the password. Nate’s got nothin’. This is definitely the donut talking. Or crying, if you will. This is what donuts do to us. Donuts Make us Go Nuts. Hmmmm, I seem to be the source of all these slogans.
And so the Fucillo Family wisdom stands: We’ve Never had a Good Donut Day.
But dang, that day I had a good donut.
