Member-only story
I lined up for three hours to see the Hello Kitty Café.
Oh, and I’m 52.
My love for Hello Kitty began when I was in high school.
Perhaps because of the Philippines being in Asia, Sanrio and its Japanese characters were a big deal to me and my Gen X classmates. Although I didn’t go all that often, whenever I was able to visit the Sanrio store at the mall, I reveled in the pastel colors, the cute cartoon characters, and of course, Hello Kitty.
Letter-writing was still a thing then. My girlfriends and I wrote long letters to each other with scented ink on lined paper. Going to the Sanrio store to replenish my stationery stash was a fun treat.
Years later, now in the US, my love for Hello Kitty continues unabated. Occasionally, a Hello Kitty item would catch my eye and I would buy it. Until recently, I had a metal lunch box, a set of Uno cards, a shirt, a purse, sticky notes, and various little knick knacks. I keep them all in my office in a little cubby, which has intrigued my three year old grandson to no end, especially tiny Hello Kitty mermaid candies.
My family knows about my love of all things Hello Kitty. A few weeks ago, my daughter-in-law alerted me that Hello Kitty Café would be at a Salt Lake City mall on a Saturday in late May from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.. To my surprise, my husband agreed to go with…
