Typically, all the articles in the newsletter cover serious business issues. As we get into the holiday season, I thought it would be nice to lighten things up and talk about my obsession: candy corn.
Every year in late September, these decadently sweet, unhealthy treats appear in the stores in all kinds of varieties: traditional candy corn, Indian corn, mellow creme pumpkins, autumn mix, and assorted mellow cremes with different flavors and Halloween shapes.
They disappear after Halloween, and you have to wait another year to satisfy your sweet tooth. So, as soon as candy corn hits the shelves, I stock up with several bags.
I thought I was the only one with this crazy craving , but I was mistaken. I recently traveled to Oklahoma City for several presentations at the Oklahoma Housing Summit. We flew on Southwest Airlines. As Emma and I were settling in, I put a bag of candy corn in the seatback pocket with a thermos of coffee.
After the flight attendants made their rounds and the cabin door was closed, I was still answering last-minute emails. A flight attendant came back to my seat, leaned down close to my face and said, ”It has come to our attention…” and paused.
Of course, I thought I was in trouble for something. Then she finished the sentence: “…that you have candy corn.”
I answered in the positive and asked if she would like some. “Of course,” was the answer. I gave her a handful, which she shared with the other attendant in the front of the plane. All of a sudden, I heard, “She ate them all!” and the poor attendant in the back of the plane didn’t get any candy corn.
So, I broke out my stash and gave each of them a handful. They told me these were the first candy corns they have had this year. The original attendant came back and told me they could be bribed, and I got a free drink for my candy corn. I finally gave them the whole bag, and as I departed the plane, I got three big hugs and kisses.
Nobody can eat just one
After the presentation and visiting with our granddaughter, who is a freshman at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, we stopped by Walgreen’s to get some more candy corn in case we had the same flight crew for the trip home. At two bags for $5 (what a bargain!), I bought a bag of candy corn and a bag of mellow creme pumpkins. As I was checking out, the clerk told me she loves the pumpkins and that after dinner, she will curl up on the couch to watch TV and eat five of them.
“Why only five?” I asked.
She showed me the nutritional information on the bag.
“Because that is one serving of pumpkins,” she said.
Now, who reads the bag of candy corn to determine what a serving is? You eat them until the bag is empty!
I thought I was the only one who was nuts over candy corn, but in one day, I ran into four other people who have candy corn cravings. So, when I got back to the office, I put a bag of candy corn in a Halloween bowl in our break area and a bag of pumpkins in a jar at the reception desk. The goblins in the office devoured both bags. While I was on another trip, I hid the pumpkins at the reception desk. When I got back, they were all gone.
At a company meeting recently, we had candy corn on the conference table. One of our staff members, Lisa Putnam, said they were the first candy corn of the season for her. She has a very special process for eating them: first the white tip, then the yellow kernel, and then the orange body. She doesn’t like the pumpkins, but I have seen people who do like them eat the green stem before they attack the pumpkin.
Even on the evening national news, they were talking about craving candy corn. If you share this obsession and can’t wait for the fall candy corn season to arrive, please send us your stories!