Our
meeting with Céline in
First I have to tell you how this all started:
Janine and I booked our trip to Vegas a few months ago and while we were getting things ready for the trip, we decided we wanted to bring a special gift for Céline this time.
It would be the third time for both of us that we were going to Vegas, so it would be a nice occasion to bring something special for Céline.
We did a lot of thinking and finally we came up with the idea to give a drawing of Céline with her father.
We know how much her father meant to her and still means to her, so we thought it would be a nice, special gift for her.
I searched the internet and found a Dutch person that hires people to make portraits, there were some examples on the website and I was pretty impressed.
I contacted him and he said it would be no problem to make one of Céline and her dad. The only problem was which picture to pick…
There are many old pictures of them together, but we decided we wanted to take a picture of them that was as recent as possible.
We searched for the pictures of the Eddy Marnay-tribute, because they were the last of them together that I could remember.
We found some good ones and sent a few to the guy of the drawings and asked him to combine them and make one portrait out of it.
After some time we received a scan of the drawing, we could let him know if we were satisfied.
We even had the chance to cancel the order if we were not happy with it.
I opened the mail and I was so touched by the drawing that I got emotional by it.
It was so good, the look in Céline’s eyes was so perfectly captured, that I could not believe it.
He did not have to change a thing and soon we
received the drawing by mail. And it was so beautiful!
We got a
frame for it and some weeks later we went to Vegas with the drawing at our side
all the time!
All we wanted was for Céline to get this, we did not take it with us to arrange a meeting or something like that, it was just our way to tell Céline how much she means to us and to thank her for all the joy she brings in our lives.
Of course it would be amazing if we could give it to her ourselves, but we knew this was almost impossible.
We went to the boxoffice because we were planning to leave the gift over there, we had left some small presents there earlier (the years before) and they all arrived at Céline, so we were confident it would turn out all right this time too.
We were very proud of our drawing and we arrived at the boxoffice with a big smile. But that smile would be taken away pretty soon, because we were told that they did not accept presents for Céline anymore because they were receiving way too many things and they stopped taking them.
The
lady was not nice at all but I tried to stay calm. I told her we came all the
way from
She still said it was not possible and asked someone to come over to the desk to tell us the same.
Again I said that I could understand they could not take everything anymore, but that this was not just everything!
I showed a picture of it that we had taken before we wrapped it. The women did not even look at it, they kept saying they would not accept it.
I was almost at a point that I would start to cry out of anger and we were both wondering if we would make a scene over there or walk away and put a good face on the matter.
We decided to do
this last thing and right now I am so happy we did!
We went back to our hotelroom and we were so unbelievable angry and disappointed!
We spent the entire afternoon in our room, watching TV and saying over and over again how rude they were, how stupid too and did they realise it is because of people like us that they can even work out there?
How could they send us away like we were two small children?
And how angry would Céline and René be when they heard about this?
But our main concern was: how to get the present at Céline..!
We did not feel like going out at all, our mood was down and sad, but at night we had to go out again because we had to get something to eat.
We decided to take the drawing again and check at the boxoffice, maybe there would have been a change of shift.
We walked to Caesars and we were planning to get something to eat first, but automatically we walked our usual way; along the boxoffice.
The show was about to begin and there was no line at all. And there were different people behind the counter, so we could give it a shot.
We walked to the guy behind the desk and while we did that, we said to each other:
“Why don’t we ask if there are any tickets left, you never know?” So I asked him if the show was sold out tonight and he said:
“No, I think I do have some tickets left, what price-class do you want to look for?”
We said we wanted the best tickets and he started looking.
Then he said: “I happen to have two front-row seats left, do you want them?”
My heart stopped beating and I said: “Do you want them?
OF COURSE WE WANT THEM!” So he reserved the tickets and while he did that, we asked again what we could do with the drawing.
He said the same, that he could not accept it, but he did give us a telephonenumber we could try to call.
We had to run to the Colosseum then because the show was about to start.
Janine had the tickets and she gave one to me while we were running to the ushers.
I did not even look at mine, all I knew was that we were somewhere on front row.
I ran towards the usher and screamed, totally in shock: “WE HAVE AA-TICKETS!!!”
He smiled at me and said: “AA? Ooooh, that’s all the way up there!”, pointing at the balcony above us.
Nice joke! Then he walked off the stairs towards the stage and I expected him to go to the right, because I thought we would be at the right or left section.
But he went to the middle and still I was thinking: Ok, so we are at the left. But then he stopped and said: “There we are”.
There were two empty seats in the middle of the row and all I could say was: “NO WAY!”
He said that these were our seats and that we should enjoy the show and I was completely out of this world!
The stupid thing was that I was wearing jeans, because I did not think for a minute that we would be at the show that night.
We were so angry about the ladies at the ticketbox that we did not even realise there was a show that night, all we were thinking about was the drawing.
So here we are, sitting at front row with the drawing and Céline really close to us. Fortunately I was wearing a nice black jacket and Janine was wearing a new Céline-shirt.
But what to do now? We could almost touch Céline, so we could try to give the present ourselves.
We did some thinking and although it was really hard for us, we decided not to try to give it.
The security might have taken it from us and most important, we did not want Céline to be faced with a drawing of her father in front of more than 4000 people.
It was so difficult because we were so proud of it and we wanted to give it to her so much, but we did not do it and we kept it with us.
I will tell you guys all about the show later on, it was so great, but I will keep this review only about our meeting.
After the show we were still in shock, sitting at front row, waiting for the big crowd to go out and suddenly I saw some people from backstage.
I said to Janine: “It’s worth to try!” and went to one of the men that was standing there. I told him our story and asked him if he could take it with him and make sure it got to Céline.
He said: “Sure, no problem” and we handed him the bag with the drawing. We had put a letter with it too, telling why we gave it and who we were, just in case.
He took the bag and went backstage right away. After the show we went outside the Colosseum and waited a while to see if we would see some famous faces.
Suddenly Janine saw Dominique Messier walking near us, he was talking with another man. She said: “Dominique?” and he was kind enough to stop his conversation and come to us.
We complimented him on the show and I asked if we could take a picture with him. He said: “Of course!” and put his arm around me right away.
We took two because the first one was too dark and after that I took one with Janine too. He was so nice, so kind, I could not believe it.
We told him we came from The Netherlands and he
said: “Thank you for coming to the show!” So sweet! We love him!
We waited for
a while but no one came out anymore so we went back to the hotel. We were so
happy, we got the drawing backstage and we had gotten AA-tickets, who would
have thought this bad day would turn out so right for us?
So the next day was our last day in Vegas and we would go out and see some last things.
In the morning suddenly the phone rang and we were like: Noooooooo! We did put our hotelname on the letter and who else would call us over there?
So I answered it and a voice on the other side of the line said: “Hello, this is housekeeping, when do you want your room to be cleaned?”
Argh! We decided to go out all day and forget about everything, just enjoy. At the end of the afternoon we went back to the hotel to get a shower and get dressed for our last show.
I just came out of the shower when the phone rang again. I said to Janine, joking: “You pick it up now, because I only get fools on the phone!”
So she picked it up, said: “Hello?” and after that: “This is Janine…”
I could tell from the look on her face that this one was different, she seemed surprised. From what she was saying I could tell it was someone that was talking about the drawing.
I was saying: “Who is this, who is this?” and she whispered: “Patrick!” to me, meaning that it was Patrick Angelil.
I could not believe it, she was on the phone with Patrick Angelil!
I could die just there, believe me! He told her that Céline and René both saw the drawing and that they were really impressed by it.
And then I heard her repeat: “Céline wants to meet us?”
And I shouted and screamed and she could not hear a thing of what he was saying anymore! Patrick laughed and said: “Looks like you have won the lottery!”
But this was way better than the lottery!
We had to wait 3 more hours for our meeting, and those hours were the longest in my life.
I could not stop saying: “Noooooooooo, this can’t be true!
This is not happening!” And also: “Oh no, my hair looks so bad!”
I don’t know how we got through these hours and I don’t know how Janine kept up with me, but finally the time was there and we walked to Caesars.
It’s only a short road because we stayed at Bally’s, so we had to cross the street and that was it, but it looked like we were crawling over there…
We went to the boxoffice really early and that was our moment of victory.
Janine went to the lady behind the counter and said, with a casual face, like it was the most normal thing on earth: “Hello there, we have an appointment with Patrick Angelil at 8 ‘o clock”.
The woman looked like she did not really believe it and asked for our names.
Then she made a call and a few minutes later there he was, Patrick!
He had a smile on his face and said: “Hi girls, are you ready?”
I said: “Are you ready?
That’s the understatement of the year!” and we were on our way, leaving the woman at the ticket box behind us with a surprised look on her face.
Justice after all!
Patrick took us inside the Colosseum, past all the lines of waiting people and we walked through the foyer.
Some ladies stopped him to ask him something and we were like: Hey! This is OUR moment!
But he is so nice so he took the time to talk with them.
After that he took us to an elevator and we went down to the backstage-area.
He told us that this area is underneath the stage, he showed some places and then he said something I will never forget: “It’s almost impossible to come backstage as a ‘normal’ fan, because most of the time it are price-winners or sick children that get the chance to meet Céline.
But you really deserve this!” It was so sweet and I did not know what to say anymore.
He took us to a room where we could sit and wait.
There were drinks on the table and he said we could help ourselves, but I could not drink anything at that time.
He also gave us showbooks (or “magazines”, as he called them) to take a look at and when I said we knew these things inside out, he said: “Well, then take a look at my picture!” Patrick went away and we waited in that room.
Next to us was another room with people waiting, there were sliding doors in between those rooms and the doors were a little opened, so we could hear what was going on over there.
There was glass in the doors too but you could not really look through them.
There was only a small stripe of see-through glass and this kind of glass was in the normal door too.
Suddenly a shadow appeared in front of our door and we both were like: “Oh my God!” Then we saw it was Patrick again, he was peeping through the glass and waving at us, he was having so much fun!
After that he came in again, with a big smile on his face, saying:
“It’s just me!” We talked a while with him about Céline and also about the
concerts she gave in
He remembered
I told him about the stadium and suddenly he remembered.
He told us he had a back-problem that time and he went to the doctor twice because he could not walk anymore.
He was really nice and was trying to make us feel comfortable. He also told the other people were a sick child and her family that would meet Céline.
And he insisted we should take some drinks, so finally we did. We waited again and I heard Céline’s assistant saying that Céline would be there any minute, she was just taking care of her hair and make-up and then she would be there.
And then, we heard some noise in the corridor, we heard a door opening and we heard the people next to us hold their breath.
We could not see much but we saw a red dress walking by and we knew enough. We heard Céline talk, she was so close to us! Se went to the child right away, kneeled next to her wheelchair and asked her name.
She also said that she could ask anything she wanted to know about her and we could hear the child was a bit shy at that time, but she did ask about René-Charles.
Céline was talking about him, that he was doing ok, that he liked to play games, things like that.
They chatted some more and finally they took some pictures and Céline signed some things.
When they said goodbye, Céline said to the parents that they could always ask them if they needed help, everything they needed.
I was almost crying but I thought: don’t do it, if you cry you can’t talk anymore and this is something that will not happen again.
I tried to stay calm and we heard Patrick talk to Céline, I guess he was telling who we were.
Then the door opened and there she was, beautiful as ever and exactly how we know her.
She walked around the table towards me and all I could say was something like: “Oh, my heart” and she said, in her well known-way: “Ooooooh!”
She gave us both kisses and then she talked about the drawing, how much she loved it, that it was so much alike.
And that they receive a lot of drawings but this was the best they had ever gotten, because many drawings make them look better, but it’s not the truth.
And that she wanted to thank us for this and also the person who made it.
Janine explained to her how it was made and I told her this was our way to show our appreciation to Céline, to thank her for all that she does for us.
She said: “You did not have to do that!” and after that Patrick asked us if we did bring a camera.
Of course we did! He took a picture of the three of us together, Céline was having her arms around us and we were having our arms around her.
I could feel her hair, so soft and long and I could not believe I was standing there!
Céline said we should take a picture with the frame as well, so her assistant got it for her and Patrick took a picture again.
And after that one more, just to be sure. Céline did a thumbs up
for the drawing and this is the best picture of them all.
Then she signed our showbooks and she had to go already, because the show was about to start.
I guess they had put us in as an extra at the last moment because we were leaving the next day.
We said goodbye and when she walked away she said:
“Have a save flight home…! And say hi to
Patrick took us back to the elevator and we thanked him for everything.
We went back up and there we were, inside the foyer, like nothing happened.
We rushed to our seats and watched the last show, but I was not there with my head.
It was like one big dream and I still can’t believe that it really happened.
It feels like it was someone else standing there, like I was only watching it.
And I realise there was so much I wanted to tell her, but when you are standing there, it goes by so fast and you can’t.
The day after I was having a slight feeling of regret, because I did not say all the things I always wanted to tell her.
But now I realise that it goes by so fast and you are so impressed by all that happens, that you can not expect yourself to say all these things.
And I am sure Céline will understand that.
I think the drawing spoke for itself and I wish the look in our eyes and on our faces said more than 1000 words.
That’s all I can hope for! I know we are so privileged that we got to meet her and sometimes I think: Why me?
I am just a normal fan
from
But that’s what it makes it so special and that’s why I wanted to share this entire story with you.
Dreams can come
true and miracles exist!
Oh, and one last note:
I am so grateful to the terrible lady at the ticketbox for NOT
accepting our drawing! Because if she would have accepted it, it would have
probably taken a lot more time for it to get to Céline and we would be already
home again before she would have seen it. SO THANK YOU AGAIN! YOU ARE THE BEST!
;-)
Laura
Dubbeldam
The
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