Goodwill Hunting on State Route 3

Homeless man finds woman's wedding ring

Lisa Shelton turned a humdrum commute into an opportunity for giving. And ultimately she ended up on the receiving end.

In backed-up traffic on  State Route 3 in Virginia last week, she spied a homeless man holding up a sign for help, Fredericksburg.com reported.  As he approached her car, she buried any disgrunteld feelings about the traffic and took some change from the buttoned pocket of her wallet.  And sped away.

At work she realized what she had done and freaked out. Earlier she put her rings in the change purse of her wallet, according to Fredericksburg.com. Later, she rubbed lotion on her hands. All her rings were there except her wedding band inscribed "To the love of my life," by her husband, Robert. That beloved ring was gone.

"I thought I'd taken all the rings out of the coins", she said.  "But the wedding band wasn't there."

Lisa hightailed it back to Route 3, but the man was gone.

Meanwhile Andy Foster went  to a friend's house to get out of the cold, Fredericksburg.com reported. He counted his change.  And came across Lisa's wedding ring.  Foster has been down on his luck for a while.  He was in a car wreck three years ago and hasn't worked since. He'd lost a finger in a chain-saw accident. He applied for jobs "everywhere," he said, but "no one's hiring."

"I knew right away it wasn't a cheap ring," he said. "I was going to go back out and hope that she'd drive back by so I could give it back."

Lisa Shelton looked for a bearded man wearing an army jacket, Fredericksburg.com reported, but a different man was at the traffic post where Andy had stood earlier. She described Andy and the homeless man suggested she check a few lights down.

It was a treasure hunt.  She found a man who said the guy with the beard could be his friend Andy. She gave him her telephone number and waited by the phone.

"Everyone told me there was no way I'd ever see that ring again," she said.  "I really didn't expect to get it back."

But later that night the phone rang.  It was Andy Foster.  They arranged to meet at the Giant the next day. True to his word, Foster was there and gave Lisa back her wedding ring. She hugged him and gave him a thank you card and some money, Fredericksburg.com reported. 

The ring she accidentally gave up came back to her with goodwill toward humankind.

Foster said, "I don't lie. I don't cheat. I don't steal. I got some other issues I  got to work out, but that's what I don't do."

And here's hoping his good turn comes back to him, too.

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