A Gift For The Best Mom

"Dear Early Show,

My name is Natasha Tenney. I'm 27 years old and I live in Afton, Tenn. The wish I would like to make come true is for my mother."

So reads Natasha's letter and, thanks to Celine Dion, her wish came true.

Today, young mother Natasha Tenney has more admiration than ever for her own mother, Lisa, and the struggles she overcame to create a loving family life.

Natasha says, "I want to show her how proud I am of her and how truly grateful I am for all of the things she's given me in life. Not necessarily the tangible things - more like self-respect, ambition, inner-strength and above all love."

Lisa Marcum was the oldest girl and main caretaker in a poor family of six kids.

Lisa says, "that's a pretty big responsibility when you're 13 and 14, you know, taking on all of that. And there was just times, you know, I just wanted away from it."

She escaped her family's tough life at 15 when she met and married an older man. The young bride dropped out of high school to start a family of her own.

Natasha says, "My mother became pregnant with me during her junior year and had to drop out of school, but she would later return for her GED."

The age difference proved too much for the couple, resulting in divorce. Lisa was now a high school dropout and single mother. Over the years, she worked several jobs, juggled the role of both mother and father to Natasha and had dreams of finishing school.

Lisa says, "It was always in the back of our mind that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to try to go back to school."

Natasha adds, "I always knew that my mother was there for me. She was my best friend, my confidant. I can't count the sacrifices she made so that I could have the clothes I wanted or so that I could go with trips - go on trips with my friends."

Looking back, Lisa's personal and professional sacrifices were many, but today, 30 years later, the rewards are even more so. Lisa never gave up on her two loves, music and school. Last year, the former high school dropout earned her master's degree in social work.

"It's a good feeling. Yeah," says Lisa. "I know now that I can always take care of myself and that was the biggest thing. And that's what I always stress to Tasha."

Through the decades, Lisa has had some role models of her own. Natasha says, "She constantly has Celine Dion playing at work, in the car, at her house. So, I think, she's just really inspired by her and her music. The wish I have for my mother is to go to Las Vegas to see Celine Dion."

It was time for mother and daughter to take their first big vacation together. Destination: Las Vegas, at the luxurious Caesar's Palace hotel. But what Lisa didn't know was Celine herself had other surprises planned for her. Jennifer Dunne, Celine's marketing director was in charge of making the magic.

The first stop was the special Celine boutique at Caesar's. Once the shopping was over, Lisa could only cry.

Jennifer tells Lisa, "It's only begun. You can't start crying yet." And she wasn't kidding. The night was young and Lisa was completely startled by what happened next.

Celine's actual make-up artist Sammy gave Lisa a glamorous makeover with Natasha looking over.

In just a few minutes, Lisa was fit for the stage, which is exactly where she was heading. Enter Brian Burke, Celine's artistic coordinator and dance supervisor.

He tells Lisa, "I'm going to do for you what I did for Celine when we put Celine into the show."

After a quick run through of the routine, it was time to practice on stage while Natasha watched from the audience.

Brian added a few of the show's dancer's, lights and music. It was show time!

There was only time for a fast group photo and it was off to one final stop, dinner at the famous Bradley Ogden restaurant. Yes, compliments of Celine. Owner Chef Ogden made a special appearance.

Lisa took a rest, to reflect on the wonderful time she was having with her daughter. "This has been just unreal, just sharing this with her," she says, "It's been amazing."

And just when they thought their day was over, Jennifer, who had been the ultimate hostess, pulled out the biggest surprise of them all: Celine Dion.

Lisa and Natasha say that the show was absolutely incredible and they plan on seeing it again soon. As for the future, Lisa says she is thinking seriously about going back-to-school, this time to get her doctorate degree.