Candy is dandy

But I'm really enjoying my wine tonight.

Look at this. I love it all and I could eat candy every day (especially Kit Kat bars). May I ask where was the Lik-M-Aid? I have to say that Lik-M-Aid is my very, very favorite and I didn't (excuse me, I mean the kids didn't) get any on Monday.

When I was a kid in Chariton, Iowa, we walked about one mile to school every day. Van Allen Elementary School. There was a tiny (and I mean tiny) grocery store along the way called Joe's. We kids would stop in at Joe's either on our way to school, or on our way home, and make some candy purchases. There was the most glorious candy counter behind that cash register and Joe would let all the kids get back there so we could load up a bag full of candy before (and/or after) school. Sometimes we had the cash to pay; sometimes not. On those occasions when we were low on cash Joe would let us charge the $1.25 worth of candy. We would say, weirdly authoritatively, "Charge it, Joe!" I can't remember who I heard say that the first time but I have a distinct memory in my head of someone saying it and then my realization that I could say that, too, and be on my way. So I said, "Charge it, Joe!" And we arrived at school with our small, brown paper bags of candy from Joe's, and put them in our desks and dreamt all day long, (when we were supposed to be practicing our cursive writing and multiplication tables), about the sweet treats we would enjoy on the way home. Such treasures!

Joe Ruddell, where are you today? Do stores like yours still exist? I have accepted that the world has changed a little bit since I was in the fourth grade. I know that my 10 year-old will not have the opportunity to "charge" a bag of candy at a small-town grocery store on the way to school. But I'm really glad that I did.

(Look in the upper left hand corner of the picture linked above. "Sour Mini-Burger?" I think NOT.)