“Your Total Comes To $1,305.17.”

While I very much love highlighting my adventures for you all, both of the home and away variety, I realized it’s been quite a long while since I shared one of my many eclectic stories from the past. When I rolled this tale out at work a couple weeks back, it became quite the sensation. These kids were all absolutely shook by what I told them and for a few days after the initial sharing, I had several others coming to me asking if I had really done what they had heard I did. When one asked if this story was on my blog, I was forced to reply with, “no, it’s not, but you best believe it soon will be!”

Going all the way back to October 2007, Melissa and I went to Las Vegas, Nevada for our first visit of what has since become too many to count. Our relationship with Vegas has seriously deteriorated over the years. During this visit, we loved it, but since that inaugural time, our opinion has drastically fallen. Vegas is full of more freaks and weirdos than anywhere else I’ve ever been in my life and being a magnet for these types of people, I find myself living on constant defense. I don’t love it at all. Now despite this lack of love, I will most definitely continue going back. There’s too many outstanding performers there with their outstanding shows, so as long as the extraordinary entertainment remains, I will return.

Now speaking of extraordinary entertainment, we solely went there on this trip to see the single greatest singer who has ever lived in all the history of the world: Céline Dion. She was in the final shows of her record-breaking residency, A New Day… and Melissa and I are – as you all know – avid Céline Dion fans and knew there was no way that show was ending without us attending.

Now don’t worry, this post isn’t another love letter to Céline and all her infinite wisdom, but I can’t carry on without addressing how perfect and phenomenal A New Day… truly was. I can quite literally close my eyes and remember nearly every aspect of that night. It wasn’t a concert or a show that Céline was performing, it was a spiritual awakening, one that transcended space and time for everyone in attendance. I might live to be a hundred years old and forget everything else in my life, but I’ll never forget the power of love that I felt that evening.

Well, the day before our spiritual awakening, we went to Caesar’s Palace, where Céline’s Colosseum resided and just outside that cathedral of music lied the Céline Dion Boutique. An entire store filled with nothing but Céline Dion merchandise. We discovered right then and there that Heaven really was a place on Earth. It was fairly decent in size, about as large as two stores in a mall combined, so we’re talking a pretty decent footprint here and at the time, there was not a single piece of merchandise inside that wasn’t adorned with Céline’s image or wisdom. Upon subsequent visits the store was filled with merchandise from other artists who had their own residency’s at the Colosseum, but at the time, thankfully Céline was all by herself.

In the center of this perfect shop was a domed ceiling that was lined with television screens in 360º glory that all played the same Céline Dion video in unison while the music to that song filled the shop. I’d be lying if I said we didn’t stand there for minutes on end just watching these videos that we had both seen hundreds of times before. For two people with as much love in their hearts for Céline as us, this was like a dream come true. There were murals of her on the walls and just everywhere you looked was something new to see. It was unlike any place I’d ever been before or after.

Well, being that we were in a store, we began doing a little shopping. Now only true fans of anything or anyone will fully understand this, but when you really love something or someone as much as we do Céline, you can never just buy one of whatever it is. I mean, you obviously want to open whatever it is and put it on display, but then you have to buy a backup in the event something tragic should befall the other. So, as we began our shopping spree, we started grabbing pairs, or in some cases, multiples of everything.

There were these beautiful sequined shirts that had Céline across them in the most incredible pose of performance, Melissa grabbed three. One for her to wear, one for her to display, and then one as discussed above as a backup in the event something should happen to the other two. We still have the one on display in our living room. It covers a mannequin bust and is a real crowd pleaser to any guest that comes over. Literally always a hit, just like all of the songs Céline has sent up the Billboard charts.

Obviously I love to write and there was a wide array of different pens to choose from, all that retailed at $10 a piece. I grabbed eight of the same kind and then one of each of the other five. So for those doing the math, yes, I spent $130 on Céline Dion twist or click ink pens. I realized when I shared this story for the first time in years the other week that this sounds absolutely insane upon retrospect, but in the moment, I was on such a Céline-induced euphoric high that it’s incredible I only bought thirteen of those pens and honestly not more.

Our friend Kamber was about to get married the next month so we bought her a pair of Wedding Flutes, no, not the musical instrument, but the long-stemmed glasses. Who even knows how much those were, but they were lined with gold and diamonds and had some of Céline most beautiful lyrics about love on each. Only the best for our best friend. Melissa got a pair of $300 sunglasses by Céline Dion’s eyeglass line: Céline Dion Eyes. They were the most beautiful pair of sunglasses you could ever imagine and had Céline’s name sprawled across the arms for all to see.

Despite owning every English language album Céline has ever released, we spent forever at the music section clicking each album on the kiosk and playing the various songs we loved most on each one. Yes, there was already Céline’s music playing throughout the shop, but you can never have too much Céline, so playing those tracks really only added to the overall ambiance for us.

We each bought some other shirts, singles this time as there was no intent to display these, just wear them, but then I discovered the refrigerator magnets and obviously had to have one of each. They varied in price depending on the size, but all cost about as much as the pens. I got eight.

After spending more than three hours inside this spectacular shop and seeing everything it had to offer many, many times over, we decided it was finally time to check out and go get lunch as all this shopping really had worked us up an appetite.

When we got to the register the enthusiastic sales attendant marveled at all the wondrous choices we had made, complimenting our great selections and just sharing her love for all things Céline with us as she scanned each individual item. The conversation couldn’t have been better. She had in fact been helping us all along as we had to have her open the cases for the sunglasses and wedding flutes respectively as they were behind glass and merely on display. Once she had scanned and bagged everything she gleefully announced, “your total comes to $1,305.17!”

I stood there frozen in space and time not quite sure I had just heard the sales attendant correctly anymore than I was certain I had read the numbers right across the total display bar. There was no possible way that this was our total. I looked over at Melissa and she looked shook too. We were both 21 years young and in college and weren’t making any money at our jobs at Target, but never in our short lives did we imagine we would be able to experience anything quite like this.

I finally found my voice and albeit shaking, I said to Melissa, “do you see this total?”

She studied the cash register’s total bar displayed with the $1,305.17 for several seconds in the most intent fashion before her eyes finally widened and her mouth released the biggest gasp one could ever imagine. From that moment she turned away abruptly as her eyes began to well with water. It couldn’t be more clear that she couldn’t believe this anymore than I could.

The sales attendant made some comment asking us if we wanted to put some things back and I found myself currently incapable of speaking as my heart pounded so ferociously against my chest it felt as though it were running a marathon right up my throat and soon out my mouth. Instead I merely shook my head no in response.

It took every ounce of willpower Melissa and I had to continue on in this moment because it was just so much more than either of us could’ve ever of imagined. Melissa turned back around and was the first to speak, “th-that’s j-just a really nice total,” she declared with a crooked smile and watery eyes.

“It really is,” I added while completely red in the face and my heart still thumping so loudly it was causing my ears to ring and sweat to dribble down my face. The sales attendant looked equal parts confused and frightened in the eyes, but she maintained her smile despite the seemingly bizarre nature of the two customers in front of her.

Now we still had to pay for these lovely goods, so we had to do what working in retail my whole life I’ve seen so many others do, “can you please put $400 on this card, another $400 on this card here, and then the rest on this card? Thank you so much.”

Once we left the Céline Dion Boutique we found a pair of Titanic themed slot machines we had seen when walking in and sat down in them and just cried and cried with our Céline Dion A New Day… branded bags sitting on the floor all around us. That total was more than either of us could’ve ever asked for because not only is 13 my favorite number and 17 Melissa’s, but the fact that 05 is Céline’s favorite and it bridged the gap between our two signature numbers was clear as day that Céline is with us always. There’s no better example in our lives that love really does come to those who believe it, and that’s the way it is!

It should be noted that this magical moment also kicked off our intense and immense gambling addiction that remained with us all throughout our 20’s. We knew with a total like that it had to be a sign of blessings to come. Needless to say, we’ve been chasing that temporary high to satisfy us ever since.

Well, as always, THANK YOU so much for reading! I appreciate you greatly! Feel free to leave me a comment below as I love reading and responding to them! I’ll return soon with another all-new post, so until then, I wish you all, all the best!