Imagine the feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realize you left your wedding ring somewhere. Now, imagine that the place is more than 5,000 miles away across the Atlantic Ocean.
Sarah Gonnella realized as she arrived at the airport, ready to head back to Atlanta, Georgia, that she had left her ring in the drawer of an apartment that they rented in Rome, Italy. Even if she tried to hustle back to the room, she didn’t have a key to get into the apartment again. She sent a desperate message to the renter and hoped for the best.
The entire flight back she worried about whether her ring would be found by the cleaning crew and – more importantly – would they admit to it. As she landed, she received the good news; her ring was found exactly where she said it would be.
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You would think the story would easily end there, but shipping the ring back to America was a nightmare because shipping valuables from Italy is prohibited. So, the wedding ring could have been returned, but it would not be insured.
After a couple weeks of trying different shipping options, Sarah thought she would ask social media for help. Though it seemed like a long shot, she asked her Facebook community if they knew of anyone traveling to Rome.
To her surprise, she received about a dozen offers in less than 24 hours, one of which was from a woman who was actually flying back to Atlanta.
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The woman named Emily, who was in Florence celebrating her 24th birthday, offered to pick up the ring for Sarah. After multiple emails back and forth, Emily stated she would arrive in Rome at 5:30 PM that evening on the train. The man with the ring said he would take her the ring at 9:00 PM. Sarah anxiously waited to hear back. Finally, an hour after the drop off time, Sarah heard from Emily – and she was in possession!
The two were able to make arrangements after Emily returned from Italy. Sarah drove down to the young woman’s apartment and gave her a bottle of Opus One as a thank you for her compassion. The two hugged and documented the return of the ring with a selfie.
The ring was returned to its owner; reunited and it feels so good!
Fly This Story To Your Friends: Click To Share (Photo by Sarah Gonnella)