Hi there,
My name is Amanda and I'm writing from the Swannanoa 4-H Center in western North Carolina. Below is a letter of thanks we recently received for assistance in recovering a lost wedding ring of great sentimental value. This woman was both thankful and thrilled to have her ring returned to her!
Mike was using a Minelab Etrac to recover the ring.
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How can we begin to thank Mike and Maggie for helping us find my gold wedding ring? We can start by describing our dilemma: On 2/22 Sunday afternoon I decided to be a ‘do-gooder’ and help pick up trash in my neighborhood. I wore gloves as I scampered about. It felt good to get outside after being homebound with the flu for the past 3 days.
Later that evening I looked at my left hand and discovered to my horror that my wedding ring was missing! Where could it be? We scoured the house. nothing. I went back outside to re-trace my steps, flashlight in hand, to search for it. Nothing. I searched through the trash bag I’d collected earlier. Nothing. I called the local police department who came over with their high beam flashlights to search for it. NOTHING.
I collapsed in my chair and felt such an overwhelming sense of despair. My wedding ring, the only piece of jewelry I ever wear, the one my husband designed, a symbol of our almost 23 years together, GONE! I prayed. And prayed some more . . .
After sitting immobile for at least 2 hours, I remembered my childhood vacations on the beach. Every summer a man searched up and down the beach with a metal detector. But where could I rent one here in the mountains of Asheville? My husband looked on the Internet. Yea! He found one, but it was in Myrtle Beach, SC, 9 hours away from us. The clock was ticking. If someone else found the ring it would be lost forever.
My husband handed the laptop to me. I fruitlessly searched for GOLD metal detectors available in Asheville for rental. Again nothing.
Somehow in the search I found treasurenet.com. I don’t remember the next few keystrokes, but somehow I stumbled upon Mike and Maggie’s website, which features the ‘Indiana Jones’ theme music. I saw they were located 30 minutes from us in Black Mountain. They listed an email address. Somehow I mustered up the strength, with Indiana Jones music playing in the background, to send a desperate plea to their email address begging for help finding my gold wedding ring. I had little hope that the address was even valid, or that Mike and Maggie still were in my area. I went to bed and cried myself to sleep.
I heard the phone ringing. It was 8:00 am 2/23. It was Mike! He called and said he’d read the email, and wanted to come over right away to help us find my ring. At no charge. Because he loves helping people. I couldn’t believe my ears. He assured me “We’ll find it, don’t worry.” My heart leaped for joy.
I bounded out of bed and told my husband somebody named Mike was on the way with a gold metal detector. He was incredulous. Mike showed up. He took my hand-scrawled map and the search began. It was freezing cold outside, yet he patiently combed the area one section at a time. An hour went by. He was re-tracing my steps. I had covered a lot of ground that prior afternoon.
At 9:20 am I had to leave. As I drove away I saw Mike, metal detector in hand, as I glanced in my rearview mirror. He was still searching. A feeling of despair overwhelmed me . . .
At 10:20 am my phone rang. It was Rich. Mike found the ring! I SHRIEKED with JOY!
We placed the ring in the original jewelry case. It now sits, opened, on our dining room table. Every time we see it we think of selfless Mike, who came to our rescue. I would like everyone to know about this “Good Samaritan”, especially police departments and others like us who may be in a similar dilemma.
If you’ve lost a valuable gold ‘treasure’, like my wedding ring, contact Mike. Our story of his ‘rescue’ of my wedding ring seems to us to be a minor miracle.
We can’t even begin to figure out how to thank him. How do you thank someone who rescued something so precious, so priceless? A mere ‘Thank you’ seems so inadequate.
Nevertheless, we hope by reading this story, others will be able to benefit from Mike and Maggie’s selfless efforts. Kudos to you, Mike and Maggie!
Richard and Diana Zientek
Weaverville, NC
dianazientek@hotmail.com
