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	A Millennium Engagement at Sea

And at the strike of midnight ...

While I was stationed in Virginia Beach for training, Chris and I talked about plans for New Year's 2000.  We both agreed that we would either go big or not go at all ... so we decided to go big! 

Even though we did not exactly know where our future was going to take us, we took a chance and put down payments on a New Year's Caribbean Cruise.

As summer came to an end and with fall, the end of my training in Virginia Beach, the question of "What next?" increasingly pulled at our hearts and heads.  I didn't have to make a decision as to where to go next.  The Marine Corps had determined that my next stop would be South Florida.  But Chris was another story.

I wanted her to come with me to Florida ... but being a traditional and strong willed girl, she wouldn't have anything to do with that idea without a commitment from me.  I knew I loved her but I also knew that I didn't want be married without having lived with someone first and having the chance to really get to know someone - their good side and bad.  This put us in a bit of a bind.

But after many an in-depth discussion, and hours of internal debates for Chris, she finally decided to move away from everything she knew, her family, her friends, her support, and take a chance on me ... on us.   That week I began looking for engagement rings.

15 December, we moved into our new house.  And two weeks later we were in Port Everglades, FL embarking aboard Carnival's cruise ship Fantasy.  What a fantastic time!  Sure there were some problems but the adventures together were awesome.  We stopped over in Cozumel, Grand Cayman Island, and Ocho Rios Jamaica.

Then the sickness began ... Chrissy came down with some sort of Caribbean plague the day before New Year's Eve.  She was down hard and not feeling up for much.  So I spent some time making money at the casino (thanks uncle John!).

I was hoping all would be well for New Year's Eve night ... but she still wasn't feeling well.  I began to get nervous considering the possibility of my grand plan being thrown overboard.  But being the trouper she is, she decided to suck it up and try to make the best of the night ... thank God!

Dinner went well ... though I couldn't eat much and felt more like falling off the wagon and getting loaded to relax.  Later in the evening we went up to the promenade level that overlooked the internal festivities of the ship.  What a party was going on ... booze, food, balloons, and party favors galore.  Me being nervous and Chris not feeling well yet, we just watched the chaos from above.

The countdown began ... Chrissy was videotaping the moment so she couldn't see me making my final adjustments to the sparkling ring in my pocket.  I made sure it was correctly in its place in the box, took a deep breath, asked myself one more time "Are you sure?", and the answer that came back was a firm "Yes!"

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                                                                               1...  I took the video camera from Chrissy's hands, put it down, and dropped to one knee as I set her on my other knee.  The cheering and festivities seemed to fade away as as I held out the box containing the sparkling diamond ring for her to see it.   I looked deep into her eyes and asked "Would you spend the next thousand years with me as my wife?" as calmly and confidently as I could. 

Her confused look turned to excitement as she screamed "OH MY GOD RUSTY, YES!" as she marveled at the engagement ring and then hugged me and laughed and cried and kissed me.  We stood to congratulations from complete strangers as she put the ring on for the first time with excitement ...

She said yes.  We began the new millennium as a committed, happy couple.

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