Little Pieces of Joy

I hated going to Junior High. It was two years of torture. I was the picked on kid and had few friends at the school. One of the things I remember from that time was stopping at a local deli we called "Joe's". I am sure it had an entirely different name, but we called it "Joe's". There was always a variety of candy to pick from and I loved talking with the cashier and picking put my candy. The candy that was my usual choice was Zotz.

This was a hard candy with a tangy fizzy center. I loved the sensation of the fizz in my mouth as I ate this candy. Is it sad that one of my only good memories of going to Junior High is a candy that I would buy on the way home?

That was 25 years ago. Zotz was a candy of the 80's. Now there are sour patch kids and other sour candies of choice. It has been years since I have thought of Zotz or had them as a treat. I guess I would casually look for them when I saw a store carrying retro candies. Once about 6 years ago I found them at a local theme park. Ah the memories.

Today we went to "The Cracker Barrel" for lunch. The food is always fantastic and they have a small store to occupy us while we waited for our food. As we were about to leave we browsed the store one last time and I browsed the wall of candy that they had on display. I looked down and then I saw them, ZOTZ. More then one flavor, I believe there were four flavors, lemon, watermelon, grape and cherry. I bought four strips of cherry.

Usually I spend a few dollars on a useless trinket at the store, today I bought four strips of memories. I remember shopping at "Joe's" and how these candies were a little piece of joy in an otherwise dreary day.