Friday, July 1, 2011

The lost wedding rings


I wanted to write this very personal story down because it means a lot to me. That's the beauty of a blog, you can always record your thoughts and day to day life. A couple of months ago, when my mom came to visit, we went to an Etsy Bash. 50 or so Etsy vendors gathered together in Downtown Dallas to sell their creations. I was in heaven due to my current Etsy addiction. After a little bit of shopping, we had to make a bathroom stop.

As I was washing my hands, I noticed a beautiful, large, diamond wedding and engagement ring set sitting on the counter. I grabbed the rings and frantically started asking all the women in the bathroom if they were theirs. No one claimed them, and my heart sunk as I imagined the anguish the owner would feel when she realized she had lost one of her most cherished possessions.

The bathrooms were located far away from the main Etsy event, tucked all the way down a flight of stairs and down a long hallway. There were hundreds and hundreds of people crowding the area. It would be like finding a needle in a hay stack to locate the owner of the rings. We rushed out of the bathroom and headed up to where the vendors were. My plan was to walk around, and ask every women I saw if she had lost her wedding bands. I felt an incredible amount of pressure to find the girl and return her rings. As I put myself in her shoes, I started to become teary-eyed. I would be so heart broken if that had happened to me. I ran up the stairs and started scanning the crowd. There were hundreds of people walking around, and over half of them women.

I spotted a cute young girl with curly brown hair. I had a distinct and strong feeling to ask her if they were her rings. I walked straight up to her and asked. She looked down at her left hand and her eyes immediately filled with tears. She had the most panicked look on her face. Her alarm was so genuine that I felt confident they were hers. I handed them to her, she was so relieved and effortlessly slipped them onto her finger. She had set them on the counter to wash her hands, and had forgotten to replace them.

We both hugged, and cried. It was her one year wedding anniversary the next day. I have never felt closer to a complete stranger in my life. I was shocked that I found the owner of the rings so quickly! Isn't it crazy that out of hundreds of people the rings belonged to the very first person I walked up to!?!! Dan later asked me how I knew she was the true owner, and not just faking it to steal a nice pair of rings. I couldn't explain it, but I knew they were hers. I know it wasn't just good luck or coincidence. It was a very spiritual experience that I hope to never forget.

3 comments:

Camie said...

That is such a neat story. You were her angel! Last Sunday in R.S. we talked about how the power of the Holy Ghost can help us feel impressed to reach out to others and help our sisters in times of need. What a neat experience to be there for a sister. I'm sure she will never forget you!

The Jatens said...

Love this story! You are amazing. :-) Love you.

Noelle and Corey said...

Awesome! I would be absolutely crushed if I lost my wedding ring. I hope she learned not to take them off in public anymore!!