On Saturday July 18, 2026 just after midnight. I received the following message on my business suite from Heather saying, “Hey there! I’m sure this is a long shot but I was at the beach directly in front of Marriott Myrtle Beach Resort at Grande Dunes yesterday morning with my two little boys and I believe my engagement ring may have fallen out of our bag. I specifically put it inside our beach bag in a Ziploc bag with my wedding band, which was in the bag, but I cannot locate the engagement ring. If you are looking up at the resort from the beach, we were just to the left of it. I’ll send a reference pic. If you by chance locate one in this area, can you please let me know? We live in Charleston but are from Myrtle Beach. Just celebrated our 10 year anniversary in June and I’m devastated.” I didn’t see her message until after I received the following text from her husband just before 8 a.m. in the morning.  “Hey Jim. My name is David. My wife took my 4 and 2 year old to the beach by the Marriott Grande Dunes on Friday and she lost her wedding ring. She said she put it in a bag and it might have fallen out where she was sitting, I wanted to see if you possibly had any availability today to help find it. We live in Charleston but would be happy to meet you to retrace steps.” I called David and got a few more details, like where his wife Heather had been sitting, etc. About 9 a.m. I decided I’d go ahead and go look for the ring hopefully beating the crowd and the heat. David also sent me some Google earth pictures showing me the area, the resort’s chair line, and where Heather had been sitting.

When I arrived and walked out on the beach, I studied the pictures to make sure I was in the right spot. There were very few people taking up the chairs and umbrellas that the lifeguards put out daily during the summer. David had sent me Heather’s phone number and told me it was ok to Face time her, which I did. Heather pointed out that she had been between 2 red umbrellas that had been set up. Thinking those 2 umbrellas were probably not in the same location they were 2 days ago, I extended my search area. I was able to do a north/south grid search from behind the chair line, along the chair line and under the umbrellas and out to the incoming tide line. I had no luck and was out of options. This is a high end resort, and it’s not easy to get into, so I had a good feeling that a casual beach searcher wouldn’t have found it. On the way off the beach, I just had a feeling that I should stop by the front desk and have them check the lost and found. When I showed the desk clerk the picture of Heather’s ring and asked him if anyone had turned it in, he had a look like he recognized the ring. He told me to hold on, while he checked 4 drawers under the counter and then disappeared in the back. I assumed he checked the safe because he was gone for a few minutes. When he reappeared he was holding an envelope that he opened in front of me. Boom, we had a perfect match. The clerk told me that the ring had been turned in by a pool employee, which means it was either lost at the pool or someone found it on the beach and gave it to the first employee they encountered. I took a picture of the ring and sent it to Heather with a text saying “Yours?” Then I called her. She immediately answered and said “yes, yes, yes!” It just so happened, that she was driving back up to Myrtle Beach from Charleston to retrace all her stops the day she lost her ring, Walmart, a gas station and the resort. We agreed to meet at the resort so she could get her ring back. About an hour later, Heather and I met at the resort and she was so excited to get her ring back.

Heather and David, thank you for trusting me to help find your ring.

Jim