In search of Lisa Frank

This story, about a woman my age and her love of and quest to find Suzy Spafford reminded me of how much I loved Lisa Frank as a 10-year-old and how awesome my sticker collection was (deemed the largest in the State of Maine the year I entered the contest at the local hobby shop in Auburn).

"My friend and former tennis teammate in college, Suzie Hayes, (whom I got Suzie hooked on "Suzy's Zoo" about 10 years ago) traveled with me to San Diego from the Bay Area last month. I was so excited the night before, I was giggly until finally falling asleep.When we walked into the company offices, my eyes welled up in tears. I quickly pulled myself together as we went in to meet Spafford, a tiny, warm, modest woman -- a mother of two grown daughters with a big heart.She spent an hour and a half with us, looking through my packed photo album containing all the stickers and cards I won't use. I have doubles of most, so those are the ones I put on cards and envelopes. She signed several things for both of us, then began pulling stickers off the long rolls on each wall, making sure we got the ones that we didn't already have. (Or just in case we needed some extras.)"

This gave me chills. Rolls and rolls of stickers! Road trips with your best friend to a land of your most special images and memories. What would my meeting with Lisa be like? Is there, in fact, a Lisa? Or was it just something else owned by Blackstone or some other private equity firm?

A quick check online and I was excited to find that there is -- or at least was -- back in 1979 -- a Lisa Frank -- and that she (or her entity) is still filling girls' bedrooms and binders with images of unicorns and rainbows ...

Suzy Spafford's work, by the way -- not so much my taste.