Hello dear reader!
Thank you for following our blog. We share information here about getting out of debt, the benefits of bankruptcy, and tips on savvy financial management, saving more and spending less.
Certainly, these are critical topics for our financial futures, but this year we also want to share good things that are happening in the world. Simply put, it’s a beautiful thing to be reminded of the good in the world.
Good Samaritans Return Stolen Family Heirloom Engagement Ring
By a twist of fate, two good Samaritans were able to return a family heirloom engagement ring to the soon fiancé.
Nico Bellamy had been holding on to an engagement ring that belonged to his then girlfriend’s late grandmother―for three years. Nico was planning to propose to longtime girlfriend Catie Schlisserman on a special vacation they had planned months in advance.
Nico said, “Catie’s dad gave me the ring the morning after her older sister got married. I joke that it was a not-so-subtle hint to get on with it already, but I think in reality he expected that after being together for seven years, I’d probably be proposing at some point in the future and he wanted his daughter to have a family heirloom.”
The ring was stored in a safety deposit box until the couple planned a move across town. Nico wanted to keep the ring closer to home, so he withdrew it from the safety deposit box, slipped it into a plastic bag, then into a tiny box, and put the box in his backpack.
After the move, Nico was horrified to find the ring missing! When he went looking for the ring he found that his backpack had been unzipped and the box was gone.
“Overcome with panic, he realized that it must have been stolen by the movers who were at his house earlier that week. As he drove to the airport [to pick up Catie’s dad]—still trying to keep the secret from Catie—Bellamy just stared off wondering what he would tell his future father-in-law.”
It was on the way back from the airport that fate stepped in…
To avoid traffic, Nico took a back road home from the airport. He spotted a sign posted to a tree that read: “Found Engagement Ring.” His heart skipped a beat.
Once home, Nico used the excuse of taking the dog for a walk so he could contact the phone number posted on the sign. The found ring was, in fact, the stolen heirloom engagement ring.
A couple had found the ring box in an alley where the movers had been after helping Nico and Catie move. Nico “guesses that the movers looked inside the ring box, saw the crumpled up plastic bag, and assumed that there was nothing in it.” Luckily the two good Samaritans had a feeling they should look inside the crumpled back before throwing the box away.
Thanks to the kindness of this couple to return the engagement ring, Nico was able to propose to Catie with the beloved family heirloom―in Paris, on New Year’s Eve.
Only one sign was hung in the neighborhood and on a street that Nico never drives down. Catie’s explanation for the coincidence: “I like to think that it was my grandparents watching out for us.”
Nico and Catie plan to invite the couple who found the ring to their wedding.
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’“
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
It doesn’t take money or talent to do something good for another. Create your own good happenings in the world. We’d love to hear about the kindness you spread into the world! Feel free to post stories about the good things you do or witness on our Facebook page!
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