When I woke up on Tuesday, May 8th, I noticed I had a 6:30 a.m. missed call with a voice mail from Michigan. Robert, who had left the message, stated he had found me through The Ring Finders website and was wondering about the details in finding a lost ring. He also said his wife’s engagement ring was lost in my area. When I called him back, we discussed the details of the search. He stated that his mother-in-law had lost his wife’s engagement ring, probably had it on her little finger and it slipped off. One of his questions concerned this being a scam, I assured him everything was on the up and up and gave him a short version of my history. The conversation seemed to put his mind at ease and he gave me the description of the lost ring and the general location. Shortly after, I was on my way to Ocean Isle Beach.
During the forty minute drive, Robert sent me pictures of the rental house they stayed in, the beach access where they entered the beach, and the search area. Actually, there were two search areas, one possible area, and inside that area was a probable area. It looked like this might be a pretty big search, everything considered. I texted him about 10:35 a.m. telling him I was there, and I’d let him know when I found it. I also asked him when her ring was lost and he responded saying either the 1st or 2nd of May.
A couple of things I’ve learned while beach hunting and watching people, one – they don’t venture to far right or left from where they came onto the beach, and two – they “usually” veer to their right to find their spot. So, I grabbed my PI detector and went straight from the stair access to the mid-tide line, dragging my scoop behind me leaving a line in the sand. The PI was going crazy with all the trash in the sand making this search very time consuming. Luckily, I had brought my AT Pro and hiked back to the car to retrieve it. I was alternating my search grid from the left and right of my center line when I noticed two ladies walking out on the beach. True to form, they were veering to the right of the stairs and started setting up their chairs and stuff right where I needed to search. I nicely told them what I was doing and asked if they would mind setting up about 10 feet left in an area I had already searched. They didn’t seem happy but they moved, thank goodness. Two more passes on the right of my center line, and just about where the ladies would have been sitting, I got a strong signal with a 51 on the screen, exactly what I expected for a small lady’s white gold ring. I looked down at the sand as I waved the detector back over the spot, and actually saw the top third of the ring sticking out of the sand. BOOM!!! I had her ring.
At 12:55 p.m. I texted Robert a picture of the ring, asking “Look familiar?!?! and then called him. When he answered his phone, I asked him if he got my text, he said he had but hadn’t looked at it yet. I told him he needed to look at the text. I heard him gasp, and he said something like “oh my goodness, I can’t believe you found it.” Before we hung up, we worked out the details to try and get the ring back to him, in Michigan, by Mother’s Day so he could surprise his wife, Abbey. Unfortunately, the ring didn’t make it back in time, but Robert had a backup plan. For Mother’s Day, he had her open 4 boxes inside one another, each box contained a picture. The first box had a picture of my book, “Teardrops in the Tides; The Journeys of a Ring Finder.” The second box had a picture of the search area. The third box was a picture of my scoop in the sand where I found her ring, and the forth box had a picture of her ring. Robert shared with me that Abbey was so happy she cried.
Robert, thank you for trusting in me to help find Abbey’s ring.
The smile on Abbey’s face says it all, how can it get it better. Robert also sent Abbey’s Mother’s Day surprise!!!
Jim
