The Secret Message

I was looking for something today and came across a book that I've had since I was around the age of my children.   There was a catalog that would come home and you could buy various things from it.   I think some of the things were books, possibly games, but the one thing I remember is the stickers.   There were all kinds of stickers and at the time, stickers weren't like they are today.   Stickers were something to collect and carefully meter out.   All I wanted was those stickers. 

Somehow I talked my mother into getting them for me, or perhaps letting me spend my money on getting some.   I was ordering so many stickers that I needed a sticker album.   As it turns out, there was a sticker album in the catalog too and it was this sticker catalog that I came across today.    

I remember that day, coming into my parent's bedroom, pleading with my mother explaining how I so needed those stickers and my life wasn't complete without them.   I remember her saying, "it looks like we're going to be getting a lot of stickers."   I practically danced out of the room.   Why I remember that particular incident over all the others in my childhood, I'm not sure.  

The stickers were either an investment or a flop.   If you measure success by sticker usage, then it was a poor buying decision.  If, however, you measure the stickers by how they were cherished and saved, then it was a huge success, because many of those stickers I still have today.  

Here is the book, which I would recognize anywhere:

I got a lot of records back then.   I had a few stickers from Record Bar, a now defunct store for obvious reasons.   

But possibly the best sticker is the one I have saved until hopefully someday technology will advance to the point where I will be able to find out the secret without losing the information: 

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Kill and Make Up:  My son and daughter got violent with each other today.   My daughter and Nora were trying to keep my son inside the large swing parts bin by standing on top if it.   When he finally go out, he was crazed and hurt my daughter.   They were so upset but I was proud of them.   They wanted to storm off but I made them talk to each other and didn't interfere.   Suddenly, they both apologized quite sincerely and then hugged and laughed.  It was not what I was expecting.