Melissa is one of the very lucky people who got to see Mariah and Whitney record the When You Believe video. And he seemed to like it alot!! And Mariah was very generous and nice. Well, here's the long story!
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never in my life have i had such an emotional experience. it all started saturday morning, 10-24, my birthday. that morning is when i first heard "when you believe," by mariah and whitney. i thought that was the greatest present could possibly get. boy was i wrong. all weekend, z100 was running a contest to win vip passes to be in the video for "when you believe." sunday afternoon, my friend calls me and tells me that she won 2 passes!!! my god did i freak. i started to cry. and what is so ironic about this whole thing is that my wish on my birthday cake had been to go to this taping. so that night i decided what to wear ( we were told to dress nice and dress in dark colors), and got my favorite mariah poster and the "music box" cd and a permanent marker all prepared for the next night. the following day i could barely make it through school. when 3 o' clock rolled around, i was on my way. the drive was nice on the way down, but all i was worrying about was if i'd get to see mariah~! i got to the academy around 5 and i stood online for about 45 minutes before finally entering the building. when i got in they stamped my hand and sent me into the next room. before we could go in, the guards told us to remove all cameras, recorders, etc. :( we weren't allowed to use any of these devices. so for the next 2 hours we sat in this room with about 150-250 other people and we had snacks and drinks. finally they began to take people around to the theater group by group. when i got into the theater i could barely breathe. i was about to see the person i love so much. the theater was beautiful, filled with lights, cameras, crews, etc. the stage had a runway in the front and there were seats and places to stand right along the stage. well, i was lucky enough to be right next to the stage ......on mariah's side!!!! for the next 20 minutes we were given directions on when to clap and scream and all that. then finally, the curtains opened, the scenery rose, and mariah and whitney stood on opposite sides of the stage, each dressed in a silver leather-type dress. whitney's was knee length and had no slit. she wore dark make-up and had her hair really short, she looked fabulous! mariah's was long and had a short slit up to her knee. around her wrist, mariah wore a silver necklace with a butterfly on it. for the first verse, whitney sang her lines and the lights were on her, when mariah's turn came, the lights moved to her and the crowd went ballistic!!! never have i seen her so beautiful. her hair was in loose curls and her make-up was light. she began to sing her part and when the first chorus came, mariah and whitney both walked to the center of the stage and arm in arm they proceeded forward to the runway right where i was standing. they belted out the powerful part of the song and the lights flashed and dimmed and brightened. mariah looked like an angel. she reached down and touched my hand and i swear i began to cry. just the fact that i had the most wonderful person in the world touch my hand hit me so hard. i was holding up a poster of her and she kept looking at me and smiling. they sang the song about 10 or 11 times and each time mariah would always walk around at the end and brush her hand against the people's that were near the stage. everytime she touched me i couldn't believe it. she is so beautiful and sweet. towards the end, after mariah and whitney stepped off stage for the last time, i handed my poster to one of the camera men and asked him to have her sign it for me. other people did this too. they told us to go around to the side of the building to get our belongings in the church. well, when we got around there, we couldn't get in because mariah and whitney were about to come out to their cars!!!!!!! after about 10 minutes, whitney stepped outside, but she went right into her jeep along with her husband, daughter and crew. she didn't wave or anything.......! a few minutes later, mariah came out of the door to get into her limo.....only she didn't get in it!!! she came by all the fans!!!!! she came right up to me and said "hi..did you enjoy the taping?" and i said "mariah you have no idea how much this means to me" and then she hugged me and said thankyou!!!!!!!!! then she told me she liked my necklace (it had a diamond butterfly on it). i took out my "music box" cd and she signed it "mar." she moved along the row and signed tons of autographs. everyone was snapping pictures and screaming to her. it was incredible. and then unfortunately mariah had to go so she stepped into her limo, rolled down her window, shook my hand one last time, and drove away. next, the crew came out and handed out our autographed items. she signed my poster "love m.c." in blue marker. people had her sign everything from a piece of paper to a shoe! but she did it!!!! she is so amazing. so anyway in case you haven't noticed i haven't said anything about whitney.......well she wasn't very interesting, she barely shook hands and she refused to sign autographs. we finally left at 12:30 a.m. and i was in a total state of shock. when i got home i put the cd in a plastic baggy and since it hasn't even been opened it never will be. i can't even describe how i felt last night and how i even feel right now. i may be in the video, and if i am i will let you know which one is me. everytime i think about this whole thing i start to cry. mariah has an amazing impact on me. never ever will i forget what happened. it was the best birthday gift i have ever gotten and i'm glad to share my story with you. sorry this is so long but i thought u should know every detail.all i know is that last night, after many years of dreaming about it, i got to meet my idol, mariah carey.