Sat in the swing this morning…it was really warm. Got hot in the afternoon with high humidity. Took the dog for a walk in the afternoon. Had a sweater on cause the house was cold. Thought I was gonna have to strip down in the yard to keep from passing out! Came back in the house and it felt like I had air-conditioning.

Anyway went to bed last night thinking about candy and got up thinking about candy. I remember one Christmas my grandmother McMurray gave me a little store display box of Wrigley double-mint chewing gum. I was thrilled! Guess she started my addiction.

Chewing gum is my most favorite candy. If you can call it candy. When the dentist talked me into two crowns, I left bubble gum by the wayside. But I actually asked the dentist how long before I could chew gum! These last two weeks are the longest I’ve been without chewing gum in years. I just kept forgetting to put it on my pick up grocery list at Wally World. If you know me, you know I have a pack of gum in my purse, a pack in my pocket, and a couple packs on my dresser.

Love gum balls, too! One Christmas my daddy gave me a real gum ball machine. It was red. I loved it. Took it to college. Never cheated, always used pennies. Rolled up 70 dollars in pennies once. Back then department stores had a candy and treats department. You could buy the gum balls by the pound and they were delicious, soft and easy to chew. Last time I chewed a gum ball, actually a pint of them from Cracker Barrel, my teeth hurt for two weeks!

As a child and teenager, I loved sweetarts candy. I can even remember the first time I ate one and remember the classmate who gave it to me. They were almost as large as a golf ball and came two to a package. I’d eat them till I had blisters on my tongue. Loved to eat them on the band bus on Friday night ballgame trips.

My friend and I were talking on the phone tonight about candy. She remembered the big sweetarts, the orange circus peanuts, and the hard assorted Christmas candy, with little designs on the round pieces. We love malted milk balls and junior mints. I loved jolly ranchers, blow pops, smarties. I like sour gummy worms, too. She and her pup are partial to Dove chocolate. And I love the fresh candy corn during Halloween. Don’t like sprees or licorice. Oldest brother is addicted to sprees. Youngest and middle brother are M &M lovers. Hate the squishiness of sprees and hate the taste of licorice. Never knew why they put black jellybeans in the bags, either. If you love licorice, good for you!

When my friend’s husband had a heart attack, Chief and I fixed him a get well basket of surprises. We put a big bag of black licorice in the basket. He loved it. He was the only person I’ve ever known that loved black licorice. I’d have a heart attack myself if I had to eat black licorice!

When I was a child, Mr. Myhand had a small grocery store down the street, then up the street from us. Vicious dog lived close to the store so we had to really want some candy to brave the trip. Bubble gum was two for a penny, can’t remember what else was in the candy section. Sold pencils, two for a nickel. I was always focused on bubble gum. Don’t know what youngest brother’s sack held but I remember a quarter would fill that little sack up.

We’d both leave the store happily clutching the little brown bags full of treats. We’d say a prayer, jump on our bikes, and fly down the hill, our feet up on the handle bars, hoping the dog wouldn’t chew the pedals off our bikes. Dog just chased us a short way but that dog always terrified me. Never chased us up the hill to the store but never missed a trip down the hill. Honestly, just realized today, fifty some odd years later, we could have ridden our bikes through town and gone to the store without encountering the dog!

My brother Jim had a gas station years ago and he had a candy section. He had the little brown paper bags I could put bubble gum in. I was a grown woman, mother to three children, but the little sack still thrilled me! But now the gum was a nickel a piece! I’d fill the little sack up counting as I dropped them in. Probably a dime a piece now if you can find it for sale in individual pieces. I always had to have the double bubble in the red and navy paper. It blew better bubbles than the blue and pink wrapped pieces. And I have to brag, I was the Queen of bubble blowing! Had to get the gum off my glasses or out of my hair many times.

I guess everybody has a favorite candy. My mother loved Hershey kisses. Daddy loved a Whitman sampler. Chief loved Whitman samplers, too. He loved every piece, even the odd pieces the children would poke to see the insides. He never looked at the box lid to pick one. He loved chocolate covered cherries, too. Stew and I ate the whole box of chocolate covered cherries once and left the box on his dresser. He brings me the box, grinning, saying, “Mama, something’s wrong with this box of cherries! It’s empty and I didn’t get one.”

Bless his heart!