The engagement ring is one of the most important aspects of a marriage. It’s a symbol of the initial promise a future husband and wife make to each other. It’s also a physical reminder of the day they promised to spend the rest of their lives with each other. It’s even more special when the ring itself has emotional significance to the couple…
Michele and Doug
Michele Arias and Doug Cotty lived in Charlotte, North Carolina. They’d been friends for most of their college years before delving into the dating world. It was one of those cases where everyone knew that they were perfect for each other besides them…
Falling In Love
Soon after, they found themselves going out on small coffee dates before graduating to the bigger dinner dates. After a while, all they wanted to do was spend time with each other. After graduation, things began to get difficult…
Crazy Schedules
After they graduated and got jobs, making time for each other was getting harder and harder. Taking time out for each other was getting harder and harder.
Vacation Time
Doug decided to plan for a much-needed vacation. They both knew that their relationship was dependent on this time-off together. He had other plans up his sleeve that Michele didn’t know about…
Costa Rica
The couple decided that heading to a far away beach would be a perfect destination for them. Plus, Doug that that beachside proposal would be pretty cool…
Proposal Plan
Michele and Doug ended up having a wonderful vacation. They went to clubs, out to fancy dinners, and had a lot of fun on the beach. Michele was thankful for the time she was spending with her favorite person, and she had no idea what else was coming.
It’s Time
The happy couple was hanging out at the beach on their last day of vacation. They went to Corcovado National Park for some sightseeing. Doug told their tour guide his master plan and waited for the perfect moment to pop the question…
Will You Marry Me?
At the perfect moment, Doug popped down onto one knee. Michele was taken aback and totally surprised. It was like her brain shut off and she didn’t know how to react!
Pictures To Last a Lifetime
The tour guide ended up taking the most perfect photos. Obviously, she said yes! She was so ecstatic to be engaged to her best friend. Everything was going smoothly… For now.
Beautiful Ring
The one-carat diamond ring was absolutely perfect. The ring had immense sentimental value to it as it’s a family heirloom on Doug’s mother’s side of the family. It meant so much to so many people…
Truly A Part of the Family
Michele felt a sense of pride now that this rock was on her finger. She truly felt a part of the family now. The fact that his family let him use their family heirloom was humbling!
Off To The Beach
They decided to celebrate by heading straight to the beach near their hotel. Michele was still in awe from what happened and couldn’t keep her eyes off of her ring. They wanted to go swimming, so Michele wanted to keep her ring in a safe place…
Keeping It Safe
She decided to put the ring in the pocket of Doug’s tank top, thinking it was a safe place. Doug took off his tank top to put on some sunscreen and tossed it over a tree branch to keep it out of the sand…
Beach Day
After hanging out in the water, they returned to their spot on the beach. Michele immediately went to Doug’s pocket to dig out her engagement ring… Instead, she found nothing.
The Ring…
Michele blacked out for a second. How could it be missing? It was right in his pocket before… She immediately felt her eyes watering and her heartbeat get faster. She told Doug who immediately started searching, but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack…
Hours of Searching
They looked through the piping hot sand for hours. They had no idea when it disappeared or how… Michele’s deepest fear was that the ocean somehow took it. They weren’t going to give up just yet.
No Luck
They had to give up… It was getting dark and their flight back home to North Carolina was quickly approaching. It was gone, and they had nothing else to do but accept it… Except, Michele isn’t the type of ‘giving up’ person.
Needing Help
She knew that this ring was too important to too many people to give up so easily… She went onto Facebook to try and see if anyone knew anything. This was her only hope… And there was no guarantee for it to even work.
The Post
The responses to her post were mainly of good luck. No one had seen or heard anything. Even the promise of a reward wasn’t helping.
Moving On
They decided that maybe getting a new engagement ring was the move… This was obviously coming to a dead-end and every day without a ring caused more and more heartbreak…
A Kind Soul
David Harris, 67, was living in Costa Rica at the name. He saw the post and wanted to know if he could help. He contacted Michele and said he wanted to help. He’s found missing rings before, and even reconnected a ring with a woman 40 years after she lost it!
No Answer
David asked her if she found her ring yet. Michele didn’t respond. He decided to follow up again and said, “Did you see my previous message? I have a metal detector and have found rings lost 40 years before. I will search for your ring but I need more information to narrow down the search area. And I need the information before another storm beats up the beach.”
Still Nothing
Michele still didn’t respond. He had no idea what to do at this point… He just assumed it was returned to her. Then, two weeks later, she wrote back. Apparently, his messages were put into her spam folder and she had just seen them.
Not Optimistic
She was bummed that she missed his message, but Michele still gave him the details he needed to go out hunting for her ring… If he really wanted to. David told Michele, “The ring, if it’s still there, it’s not going anywhere but straight down. I’ll wait until after the holiday crowds leave.”
Metal Detecting
Ten days later, he had a sudden urge to go out and search. The storms had been weathered for a while and this was the prime time to go out and look. He grabbed his metal detector and headed out.
Lots of Beeps
“I probably had searched for 20 minutes, maximum,” he says. “I picked up several Costa Rican coins, and of course a lot of beer caps and nails and stuff — which, on a metal detector, is a really dull thud kind of a noise. Then I got this really high-pitched ping. And I thought, This might not be her ring, but this is damn sure somebody’s property. Something that’s valuable.”
Digging
He decided to dig right then and there. He dug a hole nearly a foot deep before he saw something reflecting the sun into his eyes…
Jackpot
He picked it up to inspect it and realized that, yes, this was absolutely her ring. He was so excited he even began cheering out loud, warranting some weird stares. He didn’t care, he found her ring!
Found It!
Michele was astonished. “I was like, ‘Are you sure? Like, you really did? I cannot believe this.’ He said, ‘I’ll send you a picture. I’m not very good with the phone, so I’m gonna send a picture when I get back home.’ I waited maybe another 15 minutes or so and he sent me a picture, and I was like — I mean, honestly, I was like, Holy s—. He found it. Then I immediately texted Doug, and he said the same thing.”
They Couldn’t Believe Their Luck
Michele and Doug couldn’t believe what they were seeing. This was really happening! Now, they needed a game plan… How could they physically get the ring back?
Costa Rica To North Carolina
They knew that they could just send it in the mail, but the couple wasn’t into losing the ring again… That’s just too long of a journey to complete.
The Pirkls
Luckily, a couple of friends were also on Vacation in Costa Rica. Michele asked if they could get the ring from David… They accepted.
Mini Journey
Michele and Doug paid a courier $450 to get the ring successfully delivered to the Pirkls’ home in Guanacaste. They made sure to keep it safe as they made their way home to Denver. Michele met them in Denver to get the ring safely back on her finger.
No Reward
David refused to accept the reward. He says that he did it for no reward but to help out a couple in need. Onto the next!