It’s Fall! (For the Moment).

Today was the first day it’s really started to feel like fall – it rained all morning and the temperature has hovered in the 50s all day long. It’s glorious. (It’s also glorious because it’s the first day in weeks that I’ve worn a jacket to work and not had to keep it on all day long because the thermostat is set to “glaciar”).

I know you’re probably sick of hearing about fall already, but it’s just finally arriving for me and I couldn’t be more thrilled – I love fall more than any other season, and I love sweaters more than any other clothing. The combination of the two just warms my heart. And, last week, I discovered one other thing that makes fall even more lovely.

There is this fantastic donut shop right on my way to work (it really is phenomenal – Krispy Kreme recently closed in this area because I don’t think it could compete). On many Fridays, I stop and pick up a dozen or two donuts for the office. You may think this is out of the goodness of my heart. It is not; it is because I often get a call on Friday mornings asking me to take myself and my lovely office credit card to the donut shop and buy some (I am more than happy to oblige, of course, because, well, I am a normal human being and therefore I love donuts).

Last week, I came in and found that someone else had brought in a mixed dozen. In the bottom of the box was a small cake donut – it was a pumpkin spice donut. You might think this is not cause for celebration, but you might not have ever had a pumpkin spice donut.

When I was in high school, I worked at Cold Stone Creamery (more about this some other time, maybe). The first year I worked there, the store was doing quite poorly and so, as winter rolled around, all of us were temporarily unemployed (we were assured we’d get our jobs back when the Las Vegas Heat of Death returned). I took a job at Krispy Kreme working two days a week. For each shift I worked, I could take a dozen donuts of my choice home with me. I don’t really love Krispy Kreme donuts except once every very long while, so the novelty of having a basically unlimited supply wore off quickly.

Then something magical happened. They began producing Pumpkin Spice donuts for the holiday seasons. Every shift, I would take a box of twelve home, wrap them carefuly in seran wrap and place them in the freezer. Each morning, on my way out the door to school, I would take one or two of them and have them for breakfast (you may think this is unhealthy – perhaps you would feel better knowing that, when I worked at Cold Stone, I routinely ate cheesecake ice cream with raspberries for breakfast).

When the donuts were discontinued (a few weeks after Christmas), my heart broke. (I also may have gained approximately one thousand pounds, but this would be beside the point). Fortunately, I quit soon afterward to return to the loving arms of Cold Stone.

So, you can imagine how thrilled I am to discover that donuts almost exactly like my beloved high school donuts are now available just around the corner. Better yet, they are available for just fifty cents apiece.

I have a feeling that tomorrow, I may welcome Fall in correctly by wearing a sweater and stopping by for a donut on my way to work. I have a feeling that tomorrow will be a day of rejoicing.

(If it is back to 85 degrees tomorrow, I will tear my t-shirts to shreads and spit on them, so help me).