The voice on the phone was like déjà vu—history repeating itself. “This is John Clark from Beloit, Wisconsin. I lost my wedding ring… again.”
Almost four years ago, in October 2019, John lost his ring while raking leaves in the foliage behind his estate home. I searched for and eventually found his lost ring. In fun, my parting words to John were, “I hope I never see you again!” But now John needed my help, again. It was my very first time searching for the same ring twice. The circumstances too were almost identical. The ring was fitting more loosely of late and had, unbeknown to John, slipped off his finger as he worked.
The heavy custom-made 22karat gold wedding ring was one of a matched pair that John and his lovely wife, Kay, wore. To John’s dismay he realized his ring was missing after cleaning up leaves from his backyard swimming pool. He searched and searched in the areas where he had thrown the leaves over an embankment, but the ring was nowhere to be found. John could hardly believe it had happened again. The consternation in his voice was evident.
When I arrived, my business card from four years ago was laying on the kitchen table. We first drank coffee together, exchanged family news and then rehearsed the day’s events when the ring went missing. I followed John outside retracing his steps on the day of the loss. Armed with a forensic mind map, I retrieved my trusty XP Deus ii metal detector from the car and donned a set of wireless headphones. Beginning at one end of the garden, I probed the thick Hosta plants and piles of leaves above and below a rock wall not 20 yards from where the ring was lost back in 2019. The image of John’s ring replayed like a video in my mind’s screen. 
A plethora of metallic objects announced their presence in my headset, bits of foil, aluminum, wire, etc., but none that matched the tone and conductivity numbers belonging to a heavy gold ring. I had nearly finished scanning the last patch of Hosta plants when John’s ring suddenly announced its hiding place… again! After nearly four years, I presented John with his precious ring for the second time! He was almost speechless. All John could manage to say was, “I’m shocked!”
Happy photos, smiles, hugs and more coffee ensued while we savored yet another successful ring search, one that will go down in my books as, The Déjà Vu Ring! 
As I left the pleasant company of this dear couple, I couldn’t help but repeat my usual parting words to John, “I hope I never see you again!” Only this time I added, “But keep my card just in case.”
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