By Ethan Paquet
Journal Pioneer
SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. - Mae Arsenault and her granddaughter, Alecia Arsenault, were going through some family photos recently when Alecia saw one that sparked some vague memories from her childhood.
It was taken on the grandmother’s birthday in 2007 and showed Alecia giving her a birthday gift, a snowball she had spent the past few weeks preparing.
“Do you remember this?” Alecia asked.
Mae said something about it being in the freezer.
“What?”
“Yeah, I just saw it the other day,” replied Mae.
Surprised, Alecia went to the freezer and sure enough, there was the snowball.
Alecia didn’t think she’d still have it, but Mae decided it was so special, she had to keep it preserved in her freezer.
“When she gave it to me, I was so pleased. I thought it was the most beautiful gift I ever got.”
Over the years, she would look at it once in a while, but she didn’t tell anybody else it was there.
For Alecia, that makes it even more special.
“It means that she’s always thinking of me. It’s nice to know she didn’t keep it just to be like, hey, I still have it. She just kept it for her.”
It’s been there 11 years, and it will remain there forever, Mae said.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime gift.”
Alecia doesn’t know what she’ll get her grandmother for her birthday this year, but one thing’s for sure, “It probably won’t be a snowball.”
