In the very beginning of our story……….well, not the VERY beginning, that was in high school, a time we call Phase One.

After Phase One, there was a short,  interesting next beginning, that was Phase Two…..not then either.

It was in Phase Three when we began our once-upon-a-time life together that I realized my sweet man was a  “fussy butt” and I was never going to be able to surprise him with gifts, not his birthday, not Christmas, not ever.

That became clear the first time I bought him a shirt.

He was sweet about it and very careful with his wording but…..it was returned.

The next time we shopped, I watched him.

The T-shirt necks had to be a certain thickness of material and it must have double stitching.  One row of stitching wouldn’t do.  

The sleeves had to be short but a particular short, more like a little longer than short but not too long and the colors and pattern had to blend and meet his critical eye approval.

Oh, and cotton shirts?  ALWAYS 3 small buttons at the collar.

It’s been over 30 years and that was it for me. 

One shot…..one return…..that’s it!

No more gifts!

However, that door didn’t swing both ways.

I liked getting gifts from him and over the years, I’ve opened some beautiful jewelry surprises and never…..ever, was one diamond ring or bracelet ever returned.

But birthdays and Christmas were off limits as far as gift giving.  

If I didn’t buy for him, which I wasn’t gonna do…..well, I didn’t want him to buy for me.

But he did.

But it was different.

I never knew when he was gonna sit me down with a big excited smile on his face and hand me a surprise.  

He just didn’t want to be told WHEN by Hallmark or Santa Claus.

It’s been fun.

We hadn’t really decided how we were gonna handle our birthdays.  

But the first time March rolled around, I found out………..

It was my birthday morning and we both had the day off. 

He woke me early and told me we were going on a Mystery Trip.

I should dress casual, wear comfortable shoes and bring a jacket.

I had no idea what he was up to, until…..

He took the exit on the freeway under the big sign that said, San Francisco.

We were going to San Francisco!

It was such a fun day and that’s when we decided we’d do day-trips on our birthdays.

For a few years, every September and March, we did day-trips.

Little by little, day-trips turned into 2-day week-end trips, then 3-days and  finally we worked ourselves up to where we are now, birthday trips that last at least a week.

Most always our trips mean the Pacific Ocean but a few times we changed course.

When I was turning 50 it got me.  

That’s half of a hundred! 

It worked on my brain.

I think of it now…..50 bothered me?

But it did!

That birthday trip was a surprise until a week before we left.

We were going to GRACELAND and the rule was that we’d tour it as many times as I wanted for the 3 days we were there.

That ended up being six times and each time was the same excitement as the first.

Another birthday surprise trip was Las Vegas to attend a Celine Dion Concert.  

I was aware we were going to Vegas but I didn’t know we were gonna see Celine, that was the big birthday surprise.

I’ve loved her voice and the songs she sings from the very first time I heard her.

She’d been in Vegas for a year.

My Sweet Man thought he could just walk up to a window and buy 2 tickets.

Maybe he could have but not then.

It was Easter/Spring break and she took a week off.

Her show was “dark” the whole time we were there.

Of course we were both disappointed but only for a few minutes.

It was Las Vegas!

Celine was still in Vegas the next March birthday.

We bought tickets ahead but there was a scheduling problem at work so I could only manage two days off.

We flew in the day of the concert and arrived early afternoon. 

Enough time to check in, have dinner and then the concert.

We were staying at Ceasars Palace where she was performing.

The elevator door opened and we stepped out on to our floor.

We found our room and slid the key-card into the slot.

The door opened.

We stood quiet and looked around.

Somebody had made a big mistake .

We were standing just inside a luxurious suite, big as a condo.

We kinda dropped our luggage and walked around eyes big, mouths open.

The walls were the pastel colors like Creamsicles from the Good Humor man

Remember them?

Huge signed paintings hung on some of those Creamsicle walls.

A big, pillowy-soft leather sofa and 2 hugely over-stuffed chairs wrapped around a fieldstone rock fireplace.

On the other side of the room was a soft peach velvet love-seat with two smaller matching floral chairs.

There were blown glass pieces on the side tables and huge vases holding gigantic silk flower arrangements.

The carpeting was white and luxuriously thick.

So thick that if my Yorkie grandson, Rustle Albert was put down in it, he’d disappear.

Marble was everywhere possible in the bathroom and the shower bigger than some kitchens I’ve had…..big enough to dance in.

Huge shower heads that looked like they could make it feel like pouring rain were mounted on the walls across from each other. 

There was a sauna room next to the shower and the floor was heated. 

Two huge vases holding live floral arrangements that looked like they just came out of a magazine were on the football field length counter along with every possible product for hair, body or whatever.

There were buttons along the wall I didn’t touch sure that if I did, someone would appear from one of the two huge closets against another wall….maybe someone to do my hair? or nails? or massage? I didn’t know.

The kitchen and snack bar?

Meats, cheeses and drinks in the fridge.

Crackers, candy, crunchy salty things in the cupboard and a beautiful fruit basket on the counter.

It was all there…..move in ready.

Everything seemed to work off of switches; they were everywhere.

Touch one and the drapes opened, another rolled the window coverings up and exposed the view.  

And the view?

It was a mural of Mr Las Vegas himself, Wayne Newton.

It was huge and on the side of the building smack across from us.

That got the reject button and down came the covering.

One click started a roaring fire.

Other switches produced soft mood lights everywhere in the room.

A beautiful, dark wood ornate dining room table had six red tapestry fabric chairs around it and was set with what I’m sure was fine china and silver.

  

The bed?  

It wasn’t really a bed…..it was a CLOUD. 

A huge cloud that swallowed us into its poofiness when we did the Nestea plunge.

Another love-seat and chair over in one corner. 

It just made me feel like I wanted to curl up with a book.

I was a little bit disappointed when I saw no TV.

I’m a bed TV watcher. 

It’s the only time I’m in charge of the clicker!

But with the push of a button, the wall straight across from the bed made a whirring noise. 

We looked up as the ceiling was opening and a huge TV screen was making it’s way down.  

We agreed that definitely we were in the wrong room. 

What if they tried to charge us for whatever a night in that room costs?

So we decided to call down to the desk to double check.

Yep, she replied happily, they had upgraded us.

We’ve been upgraded before but that was just one HELL of an upgrade!

WAY UP!

The sad part is we barely used that room.  

We were there only for fly in, see the concert, sleep and then fly home in the morning.

But it’s a “room” we’ll never forget.

The concert?

The concert made the hotel rooms completely insignificant.

I had wanted to see her forever and I knew she wouldn’t disappointment us.

How the heck my sweet man got those seats, I don’t know but they were about 5 rows from the front and right in the middle.

Her singing, her costume changes, her jewelry…..ALL of it.  

WAY over the top.

She was far, far, far beyond amazing.

I don’t have the words to describe how wonderful it was for longer than two hours to sit and watch Celine sing.

But it was her very last song that did it.

The music began.

A curtain behind her opened and exposed a huge screen.

It only took a few beginning notes to hear the sigh of the audience and she began with MY HEART WILL GO ON, one of my very favorites.

I put my head on my sweet man’s shouder and he tilted his head touching mine.

We closed our eyes and became lost in the song.

I didn’t want that moment to ever end.

It was pure romance and I’m a romance junkie.

But a tap on both our shoulders brought us back to the present and someone behind us whispered, “look up.”

Celine’s back was to the audience, she was  facing the huge screen and singing to a couple who were obviously lost in the moment.

It was us!

My sweet man and me.  

We were on a screen two stories high and forty feed wide and Celine Dion was singing to us!

We froze in disbelief. 

We were staring at ourselves.

Our eyes were now open…..WIDE!

For about thirty amazing seconds, I don’t think we even took a breath.

The song ended, the curtain closed and she was gone.

We filed out with all the afterglow fans. 

All it took was 30 seconds of one song for us to become celebrities.

We got an embarrassing kick out of the comments from people who recognized us.   

Once we were up the elevator and back to that unbelievable room, I pushed the button that lifted the window covering exposing a now lit-up Wayne Newton.

I thought to myself…..

OK Wayne, so you’re on the side of a building. HA!

We just finished being two stories high and sung to by Celine Dion.

Top that!