Carolyn Mauck, 79, was worried sick Sunday night after losing her wedding ring while handing out Halloween candy in her Arlington, Va., neighborhood. Not only is it valuable, it also reminds her of her husband, who died last year.
“I had lost weight and it was loose and I knew it was loose,” Mauck said. “But I didn’t know it would go over my knuckle, and it just slipped off my finger when I put the candy in the bucket.”
But whose bucket was it in?
Five houses away on Eighth Street South, 2-year-old Jack Stewart, dressed as Cookie Monster, and his 4-year-old brother Sam, Woody from "Toy Story," returned home from trick-or-treating, but before attacking their goodies, their mom made sure to inspect the candy. What a treat she'd find.
“We dumped out the candy, and as soon as I dumped out Cookie Monster’s bucket, the ring literally popped up,” Michaela Sims Stewart said.
After trick or treating for blocks, the Stewarts had no idea whose ring it might be. Luckily, the Alcova Heights neighborhood is connected by a listserve -- a Yahoo group where neighbors post messages. That night Mauck went online asking anyone in the community if they had seen her ring.
“I immediately responded saying I was literally just about to post about this and we have it and we’ll return it tomorrow,” Sims Stewart said.
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Monday afternoon with the ring in hand, the Stewarts went back to Mauck's house with Sam delivering the treat.
“It was Jack’s [candy],” Sims Stewart said. “The fact that he did not dump this thing over, dump it over his head, lose it in the dark on the sidewalk -- it’s a miracle to be honest.”
“Very happy," Mauck said. "And I’m going to take it to a jeweler to have it resized ... so it won’t happen again.”
