A pressing engagement

It is rare to find a woman who is willing to pause a successful career for an indefinite amount of time to sail off into the sunset.
On paper it all sounds very romantic. It is probably the dream of many. Reality is something rather different. Sharing the same 20 cubic metres of space with someone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week you get to know them intimately. "Privacy" is something one has to look up in a dictionary. Clothes are washed in a bucket and always seem stiff with salt. Dishes are washed in salt water and always taste of salt. Bodies are washed in salt water and always...taste like salt. Little petty things like squeezing the toothpaste from the bottom, become really big issues for no apparent reason.

Your partner with whom you have to interact with on a daily basis has to pick up a bevy of roles that they may not be overly familiar with. First mate, watch keeper, cook, cleaner, assistant mechanic, chief navigator, doctor, nurse, psychiatrist, seamstress, girlfriend and best friend.

Few women our age wanted to give up hot showers, make up, nice clothes, manicures, pedicures and a steady income to become a sea gypsy. Great as a 1 week charter. 2 at the most.

Sally and I have been on Orion for just on 10 months. We have been to over 18 countries met wonderful people along the way and experienced all of this together as as a team. Very few things have we done apart. We succeed or fail together. And one of our silly little sayings is "Always togethers".

Her ability to keep smiling in the face of trying conditions is testimony to our approach of - the difference between adversity and adventure is attitude.

We were anchored off a tiny deserted island in the Las Aves. The water a shimmering turquoise, the beach sand a brilliant white. The sky had never seemed quite so blue. A few stumpy palm trees provided a splash of green in an otherwise blue pallet.

We sat on the beach watching the sun perform its usual afternoon ritual. A glass of nicely chilled fruity wine adding taste to the already overwhelmed set of senses.
I casually picked up a clam shell from the beach. 
"Every one of these shells has a perfect match to it. Each has a identical side that completes it no matter how imperfect the shell may be. It is very difficult to walk along this beach and find a shell that could match this shell and complete it. When you do it is quite rare."
I was reaching into my pocket for a shell I had found previously. This was a pretty little clam shell with both halves carefully glued closed so that it looked like a clam straight from the sea.

"Open it."
With a hint of suspicion Sally carefully opened the shell to find her engagement ring winking back at her in the waning light. 

"Sally Newton, will you marry me?" 

Overcome with confusion, emotion, surprise and a number of other girly things, the eyes welled up and a overwhelming "Yes" tumbled from her mouth. 

I slipped the ring onto her finger and so began a new chapter in our lives. 2012 has been an amazing year full of firsts. This for me has to have been the most important. Sally Newton had decided to be my wife.

When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

For me this had been a very long build up. The ring had been sourced in the UK over a year ago, before we left. 
In the old school manner of these things, prior to us leaving the UK, Mr Newton was asked if he would like me as a son in law. With his blessing began the lengthy wait to find just the right moment to pop the question.
I practiced the speech in my head over and over and over. It still did not come out 100% right in the moment. Life is not like the movies, but the she got the picture.

I dreamed of a wedding of elaborate elegance,
A church filled with family and friends.
I asked him what kind of a wedding he wished for,
He said one that would make me his wife. 

- Unknown  Author