I got a phone call about mid-morning from Michelle asking if I could help find her son’s black and silver medallion on a silver chain that was very sentimental to him that he lost the day before. She had originally called Chris Turner who told her to look for a TRF in her area. She then called Matt Fry, TRF for Myrtle Beach and Matt gave her my number since the loss was in North Myrtle Beach.
I got the description of the medallion and the location of the loss and headed out. I met Michelle and her son on the beach about 20 minutes later and they gave me the general area where the medallion was lost after a towel the item was laying on was picked up and shaken. I started working a north/south grid which was almost impossible as the beach crowd started showing up with their umbrellas and beach chairs laying claim to spots in the sand. I covered as much area as I could without disturbing anyone and decided I’d return in the early evening when the vacationers would be off the beach.
This is where the story turns into a real “Serendipity” (as defined by Wikipedia). I arrived back on the beach at about 5pm, which was an hour earlier then I had told Michelle I’d be there. As I’m walking down the narrow beach access path, which was not the same one I had originally taken on my first visit, I passed a gentleman (Jimmy) who wished me luck. I told him I was there searching for an item that I had gotten a call from someone on. He asked me if I was searching for a black and silver medallion and silver chain with a date engraved on the back. I replied I was and he told me he and his wife saw a little glisten in the sand when they arrived and pulled it out of the sand. He said he took it to his room to turn in at the front desk a little later. I about fell over at this point. I called Michelle and had her verify the engraved date and told her the story which she just couldn’t believe. She called it a miracle. I put Jimmy on the phone so he and Michelle could work out the details of returning the medallion.
This is an unbelievable story that has to go down as Michelle put it – a miracle. What’s the odds of me walking down this particular path instead of the other one, running into this one beachgoer out of the thousands that come and go on this beach in a day and us exchanging conversation to find this item? Plus I don’t think Michelle and her family are staying in the same hotel as Jimmy and his wife, so if that’s the case Michelle’s son would not have gotten the medallion back. Also if I hadn’t run into Jimmy I’d of been out on the beach for a long time searching for something that wasn’t there.
I may not have personally picked this item out of the sand but I bumped into the one guy who did and because we met the goal of The Ring Finders of getting a lost item back into the hands of the rightful owner and putting a BIG smile on their face was obtained.
Michelle – Thank you for the generous reward!!!
Thank you for reading my post.
Jim Wren
Fantastic story and recovery from all involved.That was truly a Miracle! How else can you describe it????
things happen for a reason. love you dad, and even though you didn’t find it, I am thankful to the man that did and was willing to at least try to find the owner instead of keeping it for himself.