MEMBER STORIES

A February Day to Remember

by Frank Choate

On February 26th I was down at Laguna Beach cruising the shoreline with my PI when a man came up to me and asked if I could help him find a lost ring. He said he lost it earlier in the day and wasn't sure where. After searching down near the water with no luck he wanted to re-trace his steps and me to follow. He would walk about 10 to 15 yards stop to wait for me to catch up. It took a while and I think he was impatient but I was being slowly careful not to miss it. He zig zagged around the beach and eventually through the volleyball court where he said he played earlier in the day. I asked him what kind of ring and he said it was a class ring from the University of Tennessee. I followed him. Every place he thought it to be, it wasn't. I told him that most lost items that I have found for people giving me directions are never where they think they are. They usually point out an area about 8 feet square and when I finally find the item it is away from there and told him not to worry, we would find it.

Following his path again and again through the volleyball court I got a huge signal and when I scooped I could feel the clunk and I knew before I saw, it was his ring. There it was, a very large gold ring and surrounding the black square onyx stone were the letters "University of Tennessee". He asked how much he owed me and I shook my head and said "nothing". He leaped at me and gave me an honest to gosh unexpected bear hug and when he set me down, I could see that he was one happy guy. The girl he was with was just as happy and when I walked away, I was one happy guy too.