Robert’s Perspective

What can I say, it was Vegas. Reality is there is a certain allure to Las Vegas that allows things to happen that may have otherwise never come to materialize. Leading up to our “work” Vegas trip, Mireille and I began to rekindle our relationship a bit and had been texting and calling back in forth quite a bit. Mireille was also turning 30 and I had a strange feeling there would be a tipping point in our relationship in either direction. Keeping with the theme, there were a few gambles I had taken prior to the trip. By gambles, we decided to have our flights pushed back a few days on the return home and booked a room at the Aria hotel. In sales, these are called buying signs. As our plan developed, I decided to bring a few birthday gifts that I would sprinkle in over the course of the trip.

From the moment we took off I could tell things between us were different than before. The thing about Mireille is that she’s not overly vocal about her feelings so its key to pay attention to her mannerisms. From the time we left Atlanta to Las Vegas the way she looked at me, put her arms around my neck, even the way she held my hand seemed to be different. There was a certain spark that was back in our relationship that had been absent for the previous couple of months.

The main focus of the trip was technically work, but my focus was to find a way to make the trip all about her 30th birthday. The morning of Mireille’s 30th birthday I presented her with a gift I knew she had been wanting for quite some time. When we dated the first time, I overheard Mireille talking about wanting a monogram necklace. What she didn’t realize was I had one made for her at a local boutique in Atlanta. The necklace included her initials at the time (MAM). The look on her face was priceless. That evening once all of the work functions were done, we decided to go to a local club. There were between 5 or so people from work that were looking to have a good time that evening when one of the girls we were with knew an old friend from back home now working and living in Las Vegas. When we arrived we were escorted to a roped off VIP section and provided a couple bottles of liquor for that evenings shenanigans. Lets just say the drinks were… flowing. What else to do after that than to catch a few hands at the tables…great idea. We started playing a few hands and for one reason or another We. Could. Not. Lose. I mean seriously, an entire table of colleagues and everyone seemed to walk away with cash in the pocket. I handed Mireille a couple huge stack of chips and told her to cash out. To this day, I’ve still never seen a dollar of my winnings from that evening. It didn’t matter. We spent the remainder of the evening together carrying on laughing, dancing and talking about any and everything under the sun.

When the work trip was finished, Mireille and I packed up and headed to Aria hotel. When we got to the front desk, they noticed it was Mireille’s birthday and upgraded our room complimentary. To this day, I’ve never stayed in a room so nice. When we walked through the door, the blinds, television, lights, etc were set to a motion sensor and simultaneously open, turned on, etc. It was a special occasion. That evening we decided to see a last minute Cirque du Soleil show. I phoned the concierge and as luck would have it, I was able to pick up 2 last minute tickets.

We arrived at the show just in time to grab a few drinks (Mireille a soft drink and I a vodka tonic) and head towards our seats and the show began. We couldn’t have been 15 minutes into the show when I looked over and you’ll never guess who was asleep. Mireille. I mean, how the heck can one fall asleep during one of the most exciting shows in all of Las Vegas. By my estimates, it was roughly a $30 nap, guess I’m still amazed to this day. Regardless, once she “rested” we both were taken aback by the acrobatic display they put on during the show.

Like everything, the trip was winding down and we needed to head back home. A part of me was slightly disappointed this too had to come to an end but couldn’t complain about how amazing our trip to Las Vegas had been. Late as usual with Mireille, we headed out to the airport and arrived just in time to shuffle through security and board the plane. We left Nevada sure about the direction of our relationship. To the best of my knowledge, aside from the occasional work trip, we have yet to spend a day apart since our time together that week in Las Vegas. Life was good.

Mireille’s perspective:

When we got to Vegas it felt like a dream. One that I watched so many other people live and wanted so badly. A guy that was crazy about me, that I was crazy about equally. I hadn’t felt this way since high school. I also think timing was finally right in my mind, I had been through some crazy stuff, broke some hearts, had my heart broken, all because I was searching for more. It’s like I was living outside my body watching this guy who was incredibly smooth just take charge of everything. From plans to conversation, to making moves. It still makes my heart skip a beat when thinking about it.

Robert made my birthday so special. Like I know I keep repeating this concept, but no one had ever treated me this way before. He had gifts planned throughout this whole trip. It wasn’t about the gifts at all, trust me, I usually buy the things I truly want myself. It was about exactly what they were. And the fact that he had enough faith to get them, pack them, and invest all of this thought and time, on a whim. I mean, this was blind faith, I was a wild card, and especially with him… so kudos to him for sure. He had a monogram necklace made, I was probably the most surprised I have ever been. I am not easily surprised, I usually pay close attention to things going on, and just act dumb. I literally mentioned this one time, and just in passing conversation about an outfit or fashion trend. I couldn’t believe he remembered or was even listening. Most people usually tuned out when I started talking about clothes. Then there were two cards. He took the time to pick out two thoughtful cards. A Vs giftcard. THEN he pulled out a perfume sample. He wanted me to smell it and make sure I liked it, then proceeded to have me open a huge bottle of Chanel. WHAT?! Is he psychic? It’s like he knew me before even really knowing me. Also, I almost died at the thoughtfulness of all this and the fact that he had no clue we were going to get back together or even rekindle anything.

By the first few hours of the trip, everyone knew we were a thing… again. We were inseparable and it was just like living on cloud 9. Maybe it was Vegas, or the oxygen they pump in the casinos, or maybe I was experiencing something different and letting it happen. The night of my birthday we had a crazy blow out, and it’s safe to say I had an eventful decade in my 20’s (as you are probably slowly finding out), so it was only natural to end it all with a bang. Our work friend Gina hooked us up for sure and all of us had an insane VIP time and a bar that only is remembered as cloudy to me. It all felt like a whirlwind. I do remember Robert being really good at blackjack and killing it at the tables… I mean like insanely good. He claims to this day that I didn’t give back his winning chips, but I could’ve sworn I did… (I can be a bit whimsical, I’m sure it all went to good use).

One thing that we look back on and laugh is this moment one morning in our Vegas hotel. I think it’s safe to say we are all adults here and that Robert never once slept in his own hotel room. (Aaand now our kids won’t be reading this until they are 30!) But he had set to have a wake up call because we had to work the tradeshow… I mean we did work people! So for some reason we heard commotion in the hall and he went to his room to go get ready. We stepped out into the hall to about three cops and a few bystanders banging on the door and about to break in. Apparently when you don’t answer your wake up call in Vegas, they have to come check on you. I did not know this, but do know they saw a good shot of Robert doing the walk of shame while opening the door for him.

The last night we checked in to Aria (OMG this was Vegas at it’s finest) and lived like we were truly the ones around. I felt like all the pieces just came together and it felt so natural, I didn’t want to leave his side. So I do need to defend myself when it comes to our Cirque du Soleil. I should really be tested for narcolepsy because I know deep down that I have it.. and this is before kids! Sometimes I get so tired that I literally cannot control it and fall asleep. Like my eyes will roll back and I will doze off. This happened because I can’t hang we were non stop working and partying, that by the last night I just needed a nap! But I guess it’s funny now because Robert has seen it happen many times, and it wasn’t him… or the show!

I will never forget on our last day when we were walking through the Bellagio, a couple behind us on the escalator struck up a conversation. They were telling us that it had all began in Vegas for them, they were back visiting years later. We just kind of smiled and laughed, not explaining that we weren’t quite a couple yet, but probably were now, etc etc. We had said, yes, it is all beginning in Vegas. And for us, that’s exactly what happened. For me, I never looked back again. Little did we know, that a month later, it would all change again.