Incredibly lucky ring find on beach
While visiting Sullivan's Island from Ohio during the week after Easter with my wife, Tina, and 11-month-old son, Nathan, we were enjoying the falling waves, sunshine and breezes breathing off the Atlantic.
It was our son's first trip to the ocean, and the wind proved to be a little too much after an hour. The sand forced him to close his eyes more often than he could keep them open. We gathered up our beach gear and were about to head back to Myrtle Avenue when my wife exclaimed that her wedding rings had just fallen off and plopped in the sand.
"Oh no" was the only reaction I could muster, and I frantically began to look in the immediate area. We found one of the rings and I marked that spot with a stake at Station 24 as she took Nathan back to get one of his sand sifters. I stayed behind and combed as many cubic inches of sand as I could, over and over. My wife came back upset, and I reassured her that she should not worry until the ring was definitely lost, as we would go in search of a metal detector.
The Sullivan's Island police chief was kind and patient enough to call around the island and even to Mount Pleasant, where he was able to locate an equipment rental business that had a metal detector. We drove to Mount Pleasant and rented a metal detector and went back to the spot marked with the wooden stake.
The wind was still strong and whipping the sand around like an Oklahoman dust storm. I would occasionally drop a coin in the sand and watch as the sand buried it in a matter of seconds. It was discouraging. We were getting nowhere with the metal detector. I wanted to give up. I mean, after all, it was a tiny, very expensive platinum ring with a big diamond surrounded by six smaller diamonds that was a symbol of our marriage. It was lying somewhere in the sand that stretched for miles. (In Ohio, we call that looking for a needle in a haystack, which I would rather have been doing.)
I called a friend in Ohio who gave me a couple of names of metal detecting clubs in the area.
The closest member was an hour away near Summerville. He had a business class he had to attend but offered to meet me at the beach later in the evening. He mentioned that lots of metal-detector hunters have been searching the beaches now that the price of precious metals are higher.
Concerned that I would lose out on finding my wife's ring to an avid metal-detector aficionado, I grabbed a shovel, a metal screening device and a broom and went back to Station 24 where my metal detector continued to find pop tops but no wedding ring.
About to give up for the third and final time that day, I looked out toward the ocean and saw a man pulling a red wagon with wooden sides and with PVC tubes that held fishing rods. He was heading north along the ocean with a metal detector out in front of him.
I waved from a great distance. He acknowledged me and continued in my direction. When he was close enough, I offered to hire his services as his metal detector looked much more advanced than the old jalopy I had rented, which could only find pop tops and a penny. He declined to be "hired" and said, "Oh, I should be able to find it in a couple of minutes."
I had a giant area marked off where I thought the ring could be. He laughed at my metal detector and said that his was so strong, it would set mine off. He scanned my entire area, stepped outside of it about seven feet, reached down, brushed about an inch and a half of sand away and pulled my wife's lost ring from the sand.
Goosebumps came over me and salty tears filled my eyes. It was another incredible moment on the great beaches of South Carolina.
He told me that his name was Chris. He shared stories like mine and said that helping people out is what it's all about.
My wife didn't get the chance to meet him but she wanted to extend a big thank you to him.
Sullivan's Island is fortunate to have such a great person walking its beaches helping those in need.
TIM, TINA, AND NATHAN KROSSE
Findley Avenue
Wellington, Ohio
E-mail this story 
Printer-friendly version
Notice about comments:
The Post and Courier is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. The Post and Courier does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not postandcourier.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "suggest removal" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our Web site.
Full terms and conditions can be read here.
Comments
This article has 0 comment(s)
