Double D is not always a good thing.

I'm writing this from inside Dunkin' Donuts. This is a problem.

This particular Dunkin' Donuts opened 13 days ago. I think this might be the 5th time I've been here. And because I don't drink coffee and they serve Pepsi products, we all know that I'm not here for the beverages. Actually, tonight I'm here for the free WIFI...and the maple frosted donut...and the chocolate creme donut. This, as I said, is a problem. Well, not the WIFI. The WIFI works great. But the donuts...those are a problem.

This morning, one of the gals whose blog I read declared a "fast food fast" for the month of September. (I'd offer the link here, but I think the blog is private.)  I pledged to do it with her. My eating has been spiraling out of control -- how I wish I was one of those people who can't eat when she's stressed -- and except for a few pieces of broccoli on my General Tso's chicken (not a good choice, I know), my stomach hasn't seen a green vegetable in far too long.

So now I'm wondering, does Dunkin' Donuts count as fast food?

Calm down, I know the answer. I'm just trying to give myself a few minutes to rationalize. I know there is really no rationalizing this kingdom of fried dough and creamy innards. Oh sure, they have bagels here. But who goes to Dunkin' Donuts and buys bagels? Not me. Especially not when I feel like the stress in my life has been heaped on to the magnitude that Robbie heaps syrup on waffles.

Dunkin' Donuts is like edible Zen to me. When I was a kid, every Sunday we would go to Dunkin' after church and get two dozen donuts to take to my grandparents house. We'd eat donuts and drink OJ or milk out of hideously ugly, plastic, avocado green glasses. Then we'd run to the family room and watch the WWF while my mom and dad talked with my grandparents in the kitchen. Those Sundays at my grandparents' were one of the things I missed the most when I went to college.

Years before I left for college, someone (probably my mom) made the decision that hitting the Double D is not always a good thing and our Sunday breakfast fare went from donuts to scrambled eggs and bagels. Regardless, maple frosted donuts still say "Grandma's house" and can still draw me into a trance (that could possibly be a sugar coma.)

And do you know what? I don't think I even like the donuts all that much. If I really gave it some thought, I'd enjoy an apple or cold, crisp cucumbers just as much. What I like, I think, is the twisted feeling that the donuts are a treat -- something I deserve for the trials and tribulations the recent weeks have brought. I also deserve 30 minutes to myself at the gym or going to bed early even though there is still work to be done. I just have to convince myself that those things will feel as good as Dunkin'.

Now before the Dunkin' Donuts corporate PR people start leaving messages here that donuts are ok in moderation and that they have other items on their menu, I get that. I'm sure that this won't be my last visit to the old Double D. But it will at least have to wait until the end of September. Maybe by then, I will have figured out something better for me that says "you deserve this."