J - Jolly Ranchers

Jolly Ranchers: Thing

When I was in 7th grade I got a 5-pound bag of Jolly Rancher candy for Christmas. I brought a pocket-full to school one day. As I was eating one in Life Science class, another kid asked me if I could have one. Word got around that I was the kid with candy. I thought this would make people be my friend, but it just made people want candy. Once the bag ran out, I needed to get another one to finish the year. I didn't continue to bring them the following year.

When my Great Grandpa died, I learned, at his funeral, that he was known for always having candy to give to children. This made me feel good and helped me rationalize my own candy sharing as family tradition rather than an attempt to get friends.

Green Apple were my favorite, though I liked the Red/Pink ones too. Lemon was only sometimes good. Grape scared me. Now the thought of eating any of them makes my mouth hurt, but I'm more than twice as old as I used to be when I could eat them