All’s well that ends well, even if it means going 36 years without wearing your engagement ring because it’s been stuck in a toilet. One couple in Montana had a fortuitous moment that allowed them to retrieve a pink sapphire engagement ring they thought was lost to them in the bowels of their home’s porcelain throne.

Montana’s Great Falls Tribune (via HLN) tells the story of Donna and Terry and their missing family jewel. Donna took her ring off over 30 years ago and set it on the toilet tank. A slide and a plop later, the ring had fallen into the bowl and lodged itself in a hole at the bottom of the toilet that was impossible to get into.

She and her husband tried everything to get it out, to no avail. They didn’t remove the toilet and bash it apart, as they couldn’t afford a new toilet. The couple sold the house in 1975 and left behind the ring.

But then right before Thanksgiving this year, husband Terry was across the street working on a roof, and he saw the house’s owners removing a broken toilet. Could it be that broken toilet? He asked them if he could have it and they acquiesced.

He toted it back to his workshop, smashed it open with a sledge hammer, and lo and behold, there was the still shiny pink sapphire engagement ring they’d given up for good 36 years ago. Terry surprised Donna with a second engagement and handed over the ring to her great surprise.

“We cried and we laughed. We giggled and danced. It was great,” said Donna.

36 years later and a sapphire still shines [Great Falls Tribune]

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