A woman in Edinburg Township in Portage County has found much more than rest and relaxation after her recent family vacation to Maine.
Amy Dillon was reminded that there are still good people in this world who are willing to help a total stranger at the drop of a hat -- or something else!
“I’ve been married for 17 and a half years,” smiled Dillon.
Dillon and her husband are first and forever loves.
“We started dating in middle school!”
They say in life it’s not about how many breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away, and that’s certainly true for Dillon as of late.
“To me, it’s just our promise,” said Dillon looking at her wedding ring upon her finger. “I’m going to cry. It’s our promise to love each other, respect each other, and he’s my best friend for the rest of our lives.”
Breathtaking views are what Dillon, a nurse, was excited about on a recent family trip to Maine with their two boys, 12 and 14.
“We woke up early that morning,” recalled Dillon. “We got on a cruise to go see puffins, and seals and lighthouses.”
But their adventure that day took Dillon’s breath away for a different reason as she stood at the front edge of the boat.
“I remember standing there and looked down, and it’s about 25 feet to the water, and I remember thinking, ‘My ring’s loose. I should probably put it in my pocket.’ And, as I opened my hands to do it, it literally slipped right off, right into the water.”
Her heart sank right along with her wedding ring.
“I was devastated,” she said.
She texted her mother and sisters as their cruise continued, and her little sister on dry land sprang into action.
She made countless calls and pleas for help but was ultimately able to connect Dillon with a man she’d found through a Facebook message she’d left on a Bar Harbor community page.
“And she texted me and said, 'you need to call this number right now,'” Dillon recalled of her sister’s message.
A gentleman named William Shepherd met her back at the pier with scuba gear just before sunset, some 12 hours after losing her ring to the sea.
“I showed him exactly where I dropped it,” said Dillon. “He got on his gear. Came up within nine minutes and had it on his pinky!”
Dillon calls him her hero, and it turns out he’s a hero in real life, too.
“That’s my side business,” said Shepherd during a video call from Maine. “I’m actually a full-time firefighter.”
William said he’s found things like this before and is happy to help.
He said the water was clear that day and about 10 feet deep.
“It was sandy, rocky bottom,” he said. “So, it wasn’t too hard to find.”
Dillon said she’s grateful to Shepherd for finding her wedding ring but that it’s about more than just a band; she said it could’ve been a rubber band, “and I would have wanted that rubber band back because it means more to me than the money or the diamonds or the gold, it’s the promise of forever.”
Dillon said she will forever remember a stranger’s kindness, which took her breath away, and why she wanted to share this story.
“I got a lot more than just a ring back,” she said. “I got hope. Hope in the world.”
Dillon said the top of her to-do list now that she’s back home from vacation is to get her ring re-sized.
