I strolled into the doughnut shop this morning and was assisted by a new USA Doughnut Shop employee. I peered through the thumb-printed, see-no-touch doughnut aquarium for my sugar twistee. My first left to right scan did not churn up any positive results so I had to roll my head the other way, one doughnut at a time. Sophie, my regular sugar twistee handler, knew something was wrong when a shadow of disbelief leaned across my brow. I was at a loss for words for what seemed to be an eternity. Sophie dropped her cleaning duties at the side counter and rushed to the scene of the crime.

“Why don’t you have the round sugar doughnut instead?”

I would have been outraged had those words danced from the lips of the new girl. But these were the words of the great Sophie. The girl who knew her doughnuts. It was a leap of faith, but one I knew I had to take someday.

Sophie introduced a new pallette into her hair and was surprised that I noticed and acknowledged the new hazel streaks staining her lock. I would have loved to compliment her on the new do but I was in too honest of a mood. I just didn’t think her new head was her. The new girl, the old girl with the new hairstyle, the uncharacteristic sugar twistee shortage. Have things changed or has my life become stagnant?

Okay here goes. My life goes on display today. It is Tuesday, 8 in the morning, and I’m at the office.

I normally do not come into work this early. I’ve had a lot on my mind these past few days and it has made its way into my sleep realm. So rather than wrinkle my bedsheets any further, I decided to get out of bed to catch an early start.

On the way to work, I made my routine stop to the doughnut shop and got my usual – two sugar-twistee doughnuts, a small hazelnut coffee, and a napkin in case of any nasty car spills.

Because my car does not have a cup holder, I normally have to wedge my coffee between the driver’s seat and the door. As a precaution, I normally take a few sips of my coffee before entering my car to lower the danger of driving with coffee.

I swerved my way out of accidents with one hand and entertained my stomach with my other. After I finished my first doughnut, I took a sip of coffee. My coffee tasted sweet after my first doughtnut, which was not a good thing.

I’ve been trying to trick myself into reducing my sugar intake over the past couple of weeks. I’ve cut down quite a bit actually over the past one year. I used to drink my tall glass of ice tea with 24 packs of sugar and used to have to peel open 8 packs at a time if I didn’t want to spend my entire day opening sugar packets.

I’ve had this comment passed to me oh so many times, “Would you like some tea with your sugar?” A funny observation I’ve made is that the delivery of “Would you like some tea with your sugar?” is almost always accompanied by a smugness of being the inventor of a phrase that sadly has long become cliche to me.