By In Rogers, Minnesota, thirteen years ago, Mary Stand, 71, did something she thought she wold regret for the rest of her life. After being surprised by her husband, David, 75, with a beautiful diamond ring to celebrate their 33rd wedding anniversary, she meant to get it sized, but disaster struck.
One day while using the bathroom, her ring slipped off her finger and went down the toilet drain.
“It was swirling around. I truly dove for it, and it went down the drain,” she explained. “I was thinking, ‘He’ll never buy me another ring’ … I felt really bad because it was a gift.”
The now-ringless Mary jumped on the phone and quickly called Dave, who in the irony of ironies, owns a drain and sewer company. He finished a call he was on, returned home and removed the toilet to see if the ring was stuck inside it. Finding nothing, they then used a camera to search 200 feet of sewer line.
“I was thinking, ‘He’ll never buy me another ring,’ that’s what I was thinking,” Mary said with a huge laugh. “I felt really bad, because it was a gift.”
The ring was gone, at least until John Tierney went to work a few months ago. That’s when he saw something shiny while clearing debris at the water treatment plant where he works.
“Noting the ring’s unique design,” writes Today, “Tierney felt that attempting to return the ring wouldn’t be a complete and utter wild goose chase. So the Metropolitan Council raised the flag on social media describing their discovery as a needle in a haystack.
‘Recently, we found a ring at one of our regional wastewater treatment plants,’ they wrote in the tweet, which included an image of a ring in a haystack. ‘This is a rare occurrence, and we want to return the ring to its owner! Please contact us if you lost a wedding ring down the drain.’
Recently, we found a ring at one of our regional wastewater treatment plants. This is a rare occurrence, and we want to return the ring to its owner! Please contact us if you lost a wedding ring down the drain: [email protected] or 651-602-1269. pic.twitter.com/anFSH2pIkS
— Metropolitan Council (@MetCouncilNews) March 31, 2023
Hundreds of calls poured into the plant in response to the post and the reports that circulated from wishful thinkers who were told to submit photos of the ring. Ultimately, two local jewelers examined photos and found that one picture looked like a match. It was the one that belonged to Strand.
The ring emerged from the plant — which of all places is located on a road called Diamond Lake — the worse for wear is back in Strand’s possession. According to Kare 11, she’ll have it reset and ready to wear for her 46-year anniversary with her husband.”
The Metropolitan Council recorded Mary being reunited with her long lost ring.
Hopefully, she got it cleaned too…
