The most important news and life change in 2012 was when Beth & I got engaged (ring and all).

We officially got engaged on November 19th (a day that will live in infamy). Just kidding dear........ I am writing this but she gets the final editorial rights before we put it online for the world to see.

We had gone back to celebrate Thanksgiving with her folks in South Carolina

We took a 5 day Bahamas cruise allowing me to ask Beth's father for his permission and his blessing. (You know the whole Fiddler on the Roof thing).

It was a good thing he said yes, if not, I would have asked her anyway.

I had some jewelry repairs some months back, and as long as I was there I started looking, we have a family jeweler like some families have a family doctor or dentist. We’ve known him for 30 years, my folks and brothers & sister have all done business with him, so anyway...... I took what she had been showing me for years in ads and pointed out at other jewlwry stores, and did some serious ring shopping, so I knew if I had to sell my Corvette or not.

Glad I didn’t have to make the decision and choose one way or the other, but if I had to Beth would have been the winner hands down, and hood up, and she knows it.

Well TSA made it hard, but I managed to get the ring smuggled through LAX through Chicago, Charleston, and finally onboard the Carnival Fantasy Cruise ship.

The weather wasn’t cooperating, the ship was 2 hours delayed docking that morning and the port was flooded. We finally after delays, put to sea.

We thought formal night might be on Thanksgiving Day but it was on our second day out, a day at sea just cruising, but again the weather wasn’t playing nice, Rough seas, couldn’t go "out on deck" but there’s always shopping, casinos, shows, and lots of time to visit with her folks that was nice.

My idea was I would take a formal photo with the fake back drop of the ship and the moon and after the photographer posed us I was going to get down on one knee (the good one) and I was going to pop the question.

We were dressed in our formal wear and in line when the ships videographer happened to be going by taking footage for the DVD they sell you at the end of "your cruise", and a great idea struck me, maybe it was... and maybe it wasn’t... I stepped out of line, told the videographer I was ready to propose and if he could get this on tape (O.K. guys see where this is headed), he says yes great and sticks the camera in Beth's face and she is saying we are having a great time, hope the weather is better tomorrow, and this is the moment I decide to pull the ring box out of my pocket open the lid and hold it in front of me until she looks my way and notices what I have in my hand, she does this double take glance at me the ring and me (the ring she picked out but that’s another story), and I ask her to marry me, after 9 years almost 10 do you have any idea what her response was......... well do you ?

Get this, she says "Yeah.... I guess so"………..

Seriously?, that’s only 2 steps above hell no, and do I have too? yep got it all on tape folks "live" so I guess the videographer decided not to use that clip in the for sale DVD the ship sells, but he did make us a copy and had it delivered to our cabin....

Don’t fret, no worries.... later in the evening in private between her and I, she accepted with love and devotion, and told me she would be honored to become my wife (yea good answer, our survey said). She said she was litterly in shock and amazed because I had played the ring purchase thing down so much when she actually picked it out (academy award performance, if I knew I was that good I would have gone into show business).

So that was the proposal.