Fumbling the Ring

August 23, 2026; a warm Saturday evening, perfect for tossing a football in the front yard.  Mom was playing catch in the yard with her two boys while Dad put the final touches on dinner.  Catch didn’t last long, maybe 30 minutes, but long enough for Stacey to lose her wedding band.  Not long after the football was tossed aside, and the three were heading in for dinner, did Stacey notice her 14k white gold ring was gone.

I got the text on my way to church the next day and told her I would be glad to help out.  I called her around 12:30, and by 2:30 I was surveying the yard where the ring most likely was lost.  Since this search was a land search, in a simple neighborhood yard, I asked Stacey if I could bring my 8 and 11 year old son and daughter.  They both have their own detectors and I thought that maybe three of us working together could quicken the search.  Plus if they ended up finding the ring, that would be quite a thrill for them.

Using some sport cones from their garage, we established a perimeter for the initial search area.  Stacey showed me her engagement ring which was similar to her wedding band, and I scanned it with my detector (and my children’s detectors) to get an idea of what readings I might be looking for.  I explained that there would be many pieces of metal in her yard, and that I would be checking each signal with a smaller metal detector called a pinpointer.  I knew I would not need to do any digging as the ring would (at most) be pressed into the soil, not buried at any significant depth.  Once the plan was made, the three of us started detecting.  

It was not long before my detector gave me a high pitch sound.  

Based on the sound and reading, I knew it was a quarter.  I again cautioned Stacey that I would be checking every signal and not to get her hopes up if she heard a beep.  When I held up the quarter, I could see her disappointment.  This repeated dozens of times.  Penny, foil, dime, shredded soda can, toy, nut from a bolt…

About 1.5 hours into the search, I had exhausted the area we first established.  My children asked for a break after about 30 minutes of detecting.  I knew they wouldn’t keep at it the whole time, but I was glad they gave it a try.  After asking Stacey some more questions, it was time to expand the search.  Seeing the open detectors, Stacey asked if she could try, and I was glad to show her how the machine worked and some basic techniques.  

We continued the search.  I expanded closer to the house and side of the property.  She expanded toward the road in front.  About 30 minutes later, I had my area done and was beginning to lose hope.  I was running out of land to search.  Stacey continued persevering despite finding lots of shredded soda can fragments.  

And then it happened.  On the edge of the yard, along the edge of their driveway, I had a strong repeating signal. 

I stooped, feathered some grass, and saw her ring flat and slightly pressed into the black dirt of the sod.  I said a prayer of thanks and when I looked up, Stacey was knelt down investigating her own target.  I waited a moment before calling her over.  I indicated that I had found it, but I wanted her to be the one to retrieve it from the grass.  

Joy is generally not the first emotion in this moment.  Joy comes later, when the ring is back on the finger and it’s time for pictures.  Relief comes first and as Stacey approached the spot where her ring lay, I watched relief wash over her expression.  A great weight was lifted as she stepped toward me.  In her initial text she wrote, “The ring itself is not worth much in value, but it’s very meaningful to me.”  I knew this from the start and was determined to get to this moment.  Soon after, her husband and sons arrived home and we all celebrated together.  What a joy!  

If you or someone you know has lost a phone, ring, or other jewelry item, please call.  The smiles I enjoy when returning lost items are one of the best parts of what I do.