KEY LARGO, FLA. (WSVN) - In the midst of all the devastation in the Florida Keys, a man brought a moment of happiness to his neighbor — uncovering a priceless item among all the debris.
Mike Josowitz, a Key Largo resident, found his neighbor’s lost wedding ring while cleaning up his street. It turns out the timeless treasure had been missing long before Hurricane Irma swept through.
“It kinda gives you goosebumps a little bit,” said Josowitz.
Wednesday morning, Josowitz and his friend, Shayne Young, began cleaning up the street outside of Josowitz’s home and helping neighbors who had evacuated.
“Making sure everything was tight and secure for these neighbors’ properties and you know, just doing a walk around,” said Young.
Among all the debris, Josowitz said something caught their eye. “At first I wasn’t sure if it was just a bit of debris or a ring,” he said. “I mean, from the outside it looks like it could be a ring off of a bottle cap almost.”
But it was no bottle cap — it was a gold ring with an inscription that read “MEC.”
“Well, the guy that lives here, his name is Marty and before the hurricane I saw him here, and we exchanged phone numbers,” said Josowitz. “Other than that, I never had his phone number before, but I knew I had his phone number, and I said ‘Well, let me give him a call.'”
Josowitz went with his gut feeling and called his neighbor, Marty Coleman, who, prior to the storm, had no relationship with him.
“I called him, and I go, ‘Did you lose a wedding ring?'” said Josowitz, “and he goes — he was like shocked. And he said, ‘I lost a ring about eight years ago — my wedding ring.'”
After a storm surge of 5 to 6 feet and high winds that shredded homes and trees, Marty Coleman’s engraved ring had come back.
“I didn’t know where I lost it,” said Marty, while on the phone with 7News. “I had gone out fishing, and I must’ve dropped it some place. I had looked through all my pants pockets … I looked every place I could think of. This was really a shock out of the pan.”
Marty said his wife had since gotten over it, but now everyone is wondering how this happened.
“Some things are meant to be,” said Young.
“Just gives you a good feeling that good things can happen in the middle of chaos and turmoil and hardship,” added Josowitz.
Marty, who evacuated along with his wife before the storm, said he will be picking up his ring as soon as he gets home.
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