CANDY GIRL

I love candy. There, I said it. And not just your standard chocolate bar from the local gas station. I mean the “take me back to being a kid” kind of candy. Mo Jo’s, Tootsie Rolls, Bottle Caps and gummy worms – the stuff that put a smile on your face and brought a sigh from your mom.

As an adult, what is a candy girl to do? Enter: the new British Invasion Sweets & Goods store in Peachland. They have been open only a short time, and I am already a fan. Wandering around the store, I realized that candy has played a surprisingly important role in my life.

I mark my first pregnancy by all of the tootsie rolls that I ate. For the second pregnancy, it was hundreds of those little red coke bottle gummy candies. Long red Twizzler licorice got me through a lot of late night/early morning nursings, and to this day remains my stock and default candy of choice.

Mo Jo’s were my first lesson in economics. I remember when they went from 1 cent each to 2 cents each. Ouch. When you only have 25 cents - that’s a big cut of the pot. My first smoke was with the package of fake gum candy cigarettes (but only until my father found them). When my sister and I played together, taffy was our store’s monetary system. We also could not get enough of the Lick-a-Stick packages – which we substituted with jello sugar when we ran out of the powder. Slurpees got me through High School and I still love mint candy, possibly because I think I’m eating something vaguely healthful. I also love jelly belly’s and anything caramel. One of my favourites is the red box of McIntosh caramel toffee. Sometimes when I visit my mom, I still search through her baking cupboard for any stray boxes she’s saving for some special dessert.

I have even started to bring up my children in the way of the candy. On our last visit to the British Invasion store (it is helpful that it’s right across from a park), my 2 year old picked up a piece of individually wrapped bubble gum and promptly chomped down on it, package and all. I guess a lesson in unwrapping candy first is in order, and yes, we added it to our purchase. Since he is too young for bubble gum, I took it upon myself to ensure it did not go to waste. It has been a fierce number of years since I have actually had pink yummy bubble gum and it was awesome!

So here’s to candy, childhood memories and a new generation of candy connoisseurs!