The Donut Story

Kids often teach us how to be better adults.

One time, I was at this donut store whose line, for some reason, was never short. As in, people patiently (and impatiently) line up to buy their donuts (which, in my opinion, are good, but not good enough to convince me to fall in such a loooong line). Anyway, I was at the mall with my parents and grandmother when she decided she wanted donuts. Since my parents are off to somewhere and I couldn’t let my

grandmother stand in line, I volunteered to do so for her. So there, I fell in line.

Like I said, it was a veeeerrryyyy long line. At first I was, I don’t know, three meters from the door of the store (yes, I was standing in line OUTSIDE of the freaking donut place) and there was a kid in front of me who looked as if he was five or six years old. I noticed he was holding two one hundred peso bills, playing with it. There was a couple sitting on a bench not too far from where we are, and I guessed they were his parents because the woman kept on calling to him, “Dwayne, next time na lang yan, ang haba ng line, oh!” or “Baby, I’ll buy you next time nalang, okay?”. Anyway, every time his mother
called, he’d say, “Five minutes more, mommy! I’m almost there” or “But I really wannaaaa”. All I could think about was, “kid, that’s very sweet and patient of you, but no kidding, mahaba yung pila” because I’m a bitch like that.

Dwayne and I stood in line for around half an hour, while he played with his money and I impatiently waited (I wanted to cuss, but can’t. Hell, there’s a kid in front of me). When it was finally his turn, he excitedly greeted the donut lady, pointed at a chocolate donut, made a “2” hand sign with his fingers, handed his money, received the donuts and his change, cheerfully skipped when he exited the store and went to his mother to hand the change, sat down on the bench and happily ate his donuts. Cute no? Ah well, perhaps you overlooked. He stood in line for half an hour and bought two donuts. HALF AN HOUR FOR TWO DONUTS.

But you know what? I realized something.

Dwayne was happy. It didn’t matter how long he had to wait, he knew he was getting his donut at the end. It didn’t matter that he stood in line alone with a bunch of adults (hey, that’s difficult for kids. Most kids are not very independent at that age), he was getting his donut. It didn’t matter that he only bought two donuts, his efforts are not wasted, he got his donut. And he was happy.

I don’t know, what are your thoughts?