Kelsey Snow recalls playing out WWE wrestling roles with her brother in the late 1990s when Dwayne Johnson, known as The Rock, was in his heyday in the squared circle.

“I grew up in a family watching wrestling, so I’ve been watching him ever since I was five,” said Snow, who’s since followed Johnson as a movie actor and motivator.

In 2015, she got a tattoo over her rib cage that quotes him: “Success isn’t always about greatness,” it reads. “It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work gains success. Greatness will come.”

Snow’s account instantly gained thousands of followers when Johnson reposted her photo back then.

Fast forward to 2022 and Snow found herself sitting in the second row at The Rec Room in Toronto after winning tickets to a premier screening of the movie “Black Adam,” which casts Johnson in the lead role. The mom of two brought a copy of her children’s book Sereya’s ABC Safari – an alphabet adventure named after her first-born daughter – to give to Johnson as a gift for his girls.

After getting the gift along with fan mail, and hearing a few hollers from Snow’s husband, who reminded him about the tattoo, Johnson pulled Snow on stage to rehash the quote, highlight her book, share a moment and take a quick pic.

“The whole experience was super cool,” said Snow, now a mother of two girls. “It was literally once in a lifetime because he rarely ever comes to Canada. And then to be pulled up on stage … I had no words. It was unbelievable.”

Snow put the book together at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and has sold hundreds of copies so far, with signings at bookstores and readings at local libraries.

Written in rhyme with illustrations by the author, it features upper and lower case letters and fun facts about animals A through Z.

It’s a good one for parents reading to different age groups, said Snow, who works with children with developmental disabilities.

“Usually you get a book and it’s three to five or six to eight. Mine is all in one, because you can just learn your alphabet or you can read the words if you have a reader.”

Source: therecord.com