The checkout line at the grocery store was filled with tantalizing treats—right at eye level for a young girl. Chocolatey, sweet, or sour? She felt the foil wrappers on the candy and tried to make out the words on each package. She was still too young to read, but she recognized the bright colors—the orange was Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, her favorite. But today, she was craving something different.  She selected a roll of SweeTarts and handed them to her mom, who put them on

My childhood home was a big, yellow farmhouse with a picket fence. I slept in a blush-pink room with a dormer that overlooked the front...