A man was reunited with his wedding ring that he lost on a UK beach. All thanks to the 11-year-old girl who found it and tracked him down.
Like Cinderella getting reunited with her glass slippers, Matt Eastley got his wedding ring back after losing it at a beach and thinking he will never see it again.
He didn't notice that the ring slipped off his fingers
Eastley, 54, and his wife Lisa have been married for 15 years. Last August, the couple, together with their daughter, Alice, visited Ventnor Beach while on vacation on the Isle of Wight. It was there where he lost his wedding ring.
He said that they were splashing about in the sea when a big wave hit them, BBC reported. That was when the wedding ring slipped off his finger. He didn't notice at first that the ring was gone. The wave also sent his daughter's glasses flying, but they were able to recover it later.
Eastley described the moment when he realized he lost his wedding ring as devastating. "It is irreplaceable," he said. Still, he did make plans of having the band replaced thinking that he may not find it anymore. However, before the left, he asked the help of the cafe owner on the beach to keep a lookout hoping that the ring would somehow turn up.
An 11-year-old would find the ring the next day
The wedding ring did turn up the next day. Priya Sahu, an 11-year-old girl who was also vacationing in the Isle of Wight with her mom found the ring in the sand on Ventnor Beach. Priya, who attends secondary school at King Edward VI in Southampton, Hampshire, said she found the ring while looking for seashells under the sand.
"What's this?" she asked herself after seeing a shiny thing on the ground. She told her mom about the ring that she found. Aswita Sahu, who is an artist from Southampton, wasn't really interested at all thinking it was "probably just a fake ring." Speaking to Daily Mail, Mrs. Sahu recalled that Priya thought how magical it would probably be if they would be able to find the owner of the wedding ring. And so she decided to help her daughter locate the wedding ring's owner.
Cinderella moment
Mom and daughter began their search by contacting friends and friends of friends. Luckily, they got connected to the owner of Toni's Tea Rooms; the owner immediately contacted Eastly to let him know that a ring has been found. Mrs. Sahu then contacted Eastly and asked for his finger measurement, to make sure that they will return the ring to the right owner.
They then arranged to meet in Watts Park, Southampton to have the wedding band returned. Eastley described the moment of getting the ring back as a "glass slipper in Cinderella." While he was devastated losing the ring, getting it back felt wonderful and life-affirming. It is a really happy ending, he said. What happened certainly "put a smile on my face."
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