Daddy's Candy Jar

My mother was pretty strict when it came to our eating habits. We always had meat, potatoes, vegetable and salad. Never dessert unless there was company. Tho, we always had 2 or 3 half gallons of ice cream in the freezer. Black Walnut was Daddy’s favorite, but mine was Fudge Ripple! 59 cents on sale. It was always Jerseymaid in the blue stripped container and we got 3 small scoops. That was another thing about my mother, everything was always served the same. 3 scoops of ice cream, 2 strips of bacon and 2 eggs, 1 pork chop, 6 oz. of orange juice for breakfast. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday we had bacon and eggs for breakfast. The other days, we had cereal. Puffed Wheat, Shredded Wheat or Post Tosties. I just figured there was a book somewhere that had the rules for the amount of food you served your family. When I got married my husband wanted more bacon and I was floored! His mom apparently didn’t read the book! Anyway, I digress………I don’t remember going to the frige or cupboard for snacks. We had ’meals’. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. If ever we did have a snack, it was fruit. Well, what kid wants an apple at 2 in the afternoon! (however, we did have a Satsuma Tangerine tree I visited regularly.) Around 8:00 in the evening, Daddy would say, ‘Ma, how about some ice cream?’. We’d all act like it was an idea we had never thought of! And out would come our 3 scoops. The ice cream was the only treat we could count on. But……in the pantry…way up high on the shelf...second from the top, were 2 glass jars. In them was Daddy’s candy. In the one on the right were gumdrops. The big ones. Red, yellow, orange, green, purple and the yucky black ones. But on the right, Brach’s Chocolate Stars!!!! AAAhhhhhh! Whenever Daddy came in from his shop in the back yard, you hoped he would go the pantry! You see, you couldn’t ask for the candy, you had to wait to see if he offered you one. Yes, one. One or the other, never both. He always did offer, but you always wondered if this time he might forget. He also kept Tootsie Rolls somewhere. Because his Grandfather always had candy in his pockets for his grand kids at church, my Dad decided to carry on the tradition. They would rush up to their Papa after church and just stand, waiting for him to offer them a treat. He would always pretend to not know why they were being just a little too attentive. ‘Oh!’ He would say. ‘I think I might have some candy in my pocket this morning!’ And out would come 2 Tootsie Rolls each! The grandchildren, and a few others who had caught on to the ritual, would run off as if they had gotten gold from a mine!Now that I look back on it, geesh! It was kind of like torture! Maybe even Child Abuse! I gotta go journal………………….