‘Ring’-ing in the holidays

Published 1:03 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

NORTH BEND – Seven years ago Monti Blazevich looked down at her hand to find that her wedding ring was missing, presumably forever. Little did she know that a potent mix of coincidence and serendipity would bring her ring back in time for the upcoming holidays.

Blazevich still isn’t sure how she lost the ring and until earlier this month, didn’t know where she’d lost it. All she knew was that one night, while lying in bed and fidgeting with her hands, she didn’t feel the familiar band of gold and diamonds.

“I was pretty devastated,” said Blazevich.

Husband Steve checked the house’s pipes, the compost pile and every other hiding place imaginable, but the ring never materialized.

“I just figured it was gone,” Monti said.

Not wanting his wife attending her upcoming 10-year high-school reunion sans ring, Steve bought a replacement band. While the new ring was nice, it wasn’t the other half of the specially designed, matching bands she and Steve picked out prior to their 1990 wedding.

“I thought about [the lost ring] all the time,” she added.

Assuming the ring was lost at home, Blazevich decided not to place an ad in the paper or inquire about it locally. She thought it might eventually turn up in a monopoly box or tucked away in a pocket somewhere.

Two years after the ring was lost, North Bend resident Angela Barrus was at the Si View Community Center playground with her children when she found a ring in the sandbox. The ring was a little scratched, but in good shape.

Barrus said she felt bad about not seeking the owner via newspaper or bulletin board, but being the mother of four kids kept her busy. Barrus also was concerned that there was no way to verify that someone responding to the ad was the rightful owner.

So what did she do with the ring?

“I put in on the window sill in my kitchen,” explained Barrus.

And that’s where the ring sat for three years until Barrus began wearing it shortly after losing the diamond from her own wedding ring.

About a year after beginning to wear the ring, Barrus’ son Jason began hanging out with Steven Blazevich, Monti’s son. In the time since their sons became friends, Monti and Angela have only met a few times. Although they spoke on the phone, face-to-face meetings were uncommon.

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