Texas families cross paths after wedding ring discovered in Florida – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Chris Ramirez, a barber who just opened a new shop in Deep Ellum, traveled to Fort Lauderdale for a family vacation in June. Afraid of losing his wedding ring in the water, he put it to the side of a bag for safekeeping.

It did not work.

“It was on,” Ramirez said Monday. “I looked everywhere.”

Desperate, he contacted the nearest hotel and reported her missing.

“I thought it was definitely a long shot,” he said. “I knew I lost him at the beach and I thought there was no way this was going to happen. There’s just no way.”

That’s exactly what Latosha Duffey said. Duffey and his family were staying at the same resort when his mother noticed something shiny.

“I was like, ‘No way!'” Duffey said when her mother found the ring and vowed to find the owner.

“I was walking along the beach and I looked down and saw a gold ring in the sand,” Charlotte Duffey said.

The gold coin was Ramirez’s wedding ring.

“I took the wedding ring home and called the hotel,” she said.

Young Duffey said she never thought they would find the owner.

“I was like, it’s one in a trillion you’ll find out who this ring belongs to,” Latosha Duffey said.

Indeed, the hotel connected the two.

“What are the odds? It’s my lucky day,” Ramirez said.

Charlotte Duffey said she wanted to do the right thing.

“I was just excited and happy that I got to return the ring,” she said.

Two North Texas families, strangers on a beach so far from home, have met in the longest of long shots.

“The small world indeed,” said Charlotte Duffey.

Ramirez said he was grateful for the honesty of the Mansfield family.

“The biggest lesson, outside of losing your ring and not losing it, is knowing that there are still good people out there,” he said. “They are willing to pay it forward and help each other.”