I WON'T BUY CANDY. I WON'T BUY CANDY. I WON'T BUY CANDY.

While there are many advantages to traveling to work by bus instead of by car, two of my favorites are:
 1) I save money, and
 2) I am forced to walk 2 miles a day getting from one bus stop to another, which in turn, should result in at least a minimal weight loss. 

I have, after only 2 weeks of this endeavor, now found a way to single handedly negate both.  The A & M Peanut Shoppe.

It started innocently enough (but don't ALL bad habits?)--  I stopped to buy myself a treat after a particularly trying day.  My morning Fairhope to Mobile bus overheated just outside of the Bankhead tunnel, on the off ramp from the Bayway.  This was only a minor irritation, because I knew we would be taken care of, and I had plenty of time to get to my stop in Mobile.  And, bonus, it was fun to watch how The Professionals each chose to deal with the situation.  A handful dashed out of the bus as soon as possible, explaining that where there is smoke, there is a bus they prefer NOT to be on.  This group waited a good piece of grass away from us, and in time, a car driven by A Professional friend, not savvy enough to use the bus, pulled up and drove them away.  Others sat together and discussed the ramifications of arriving late for work.  Some had early meetings, others had deadlines to meet, but all agreed the best course of action was to sit tight and wait for our certain rescue.  In time it came, by way of a much larger bus that not only took us into downtown Mobile, but graciously dropped us each off at our respective buildings.  I, having no building to claim as my own, simply got off at the Square.

Work was uneventful, but my ride home was anything but.  I took a new route by foot from the Montlimar building to what I thought was an acceptable bus stop near the Windsor Place apartments.  I enjoy this walk much more than my trot down Montlimar because I can sing to the music in my headphones and there's no one to see me.  And I occasionally do what one might consider a dance move here or there just for kicks.  But I digress.  As I stood at the spot I considered to be the bus stop, I leaned out and waved at the bus driver to let him know I was, indeed, prepared to ride.  He smiled, waved back, and kept on driving.  My heart sank.  I realized in that split second that if this were to pass, I would be stranded in Mobile for God knows how long.  I did what any self respecting girl would do--  I ran screaming down the Airport Blvd. service road, begging the bus to stop.  Did I think it could hear me?  Who knows.  But, after only a few yards it STOPPED!  I was so relieved.  I climbed in and was instructed that I had NOT been standing at an acceptable bus stop, and that in the future, I would not be picked up if I stood there.  Got it.  The bus lurched and I swayed, then sat down in the first space I could find.  I heard, "Git own back here--  sit back here!"  It was the Bus Leader--  the outspoken, no nonsense woman that both thrills and scares me.  I made my way back to where she was and she began her assessment of the situation.  "Girl, I thought he was jus gonna let you run all the way--  I tole him stop, STOP! Let that girl on this bus--  shes sposed to BE on this bus..."  I have never been so grateful to a stranger in all my life.  And, even better, I suddenly didn't feel like such an outsider.  I felt the acceptance of everyone on the bus now that Their Leader had  stood up for me.  It was glorious.  Like when you're the first one picked for the kick ball team in elementary school.  All I could say was thank you.  She nodded self righteously, and we both glared at the driver.  She cut her eyes to me and muttered, "He's new."

So, understandably, by the time I walked past the Peanut Shoppe, I was in dire need of an indulgance.  Two dollars worth of snowcaps later and I was just fine, settling in to the bus that takes me home, and listening quietly to the banter of The Professionals as they discuss what happened in court that day, or how so and so is feeling since the operation, etc. 

Since that day it has taken much less to make me feel deserving of a treat as I pass the Shoppe.  I've had Maple Nut Goodies simply because they were my Mammaw's favorite candy, and on another day I had Gel Fruit Slices because they make me think of my Mom.  All in all, I'm sure I've made up for the money saved and calories burned by my detours into that place, but sometimes, well, it's all worth it.  Trying times call for... candy.