of lollies, sweets, and sugar highs

Growing up, the highlight of the day was walking home after school and stopping by the corner store. All the school kids would crowd in around the counter where boxes and bins of candy covered every inch of the shelves and a nickel or dime can buy you a sugary treat bigger than you can fit into your mouth. Underneath all the packaging, all the candy were the same, 100% sugar designed to keep the kids on a sugar high and guaranteed to spoil dinner appetites. And the walk home... oh the joys of sucking on a sweet or inhaling the sugary pixy stixs all with a spring in your step. I'd take little nibbles or licks for maximum lasting power so that by the time you reach home, the sugar is still seeping in through the tastebuds. Sweet tarts, sour keys, and all the little hard candies were sucked on and not swallowed until dissolved into a salivary sugary memory. Those were the golden days of childhood.