Woman Thinks She Lost Wedding Ring, 20 Years Later She Learned the Truth

Realtor Dana Popham, 50, lives in Gainesville, Georgia, and has been married for more than 30 years—and for the past 20 years, has been without her wedding ring.

She and her husband had lived in the same house for decades, raising their four now-adult children, and Popham told Newsweek she had always wondered what had happened to the ring, retaining a “sliver of hope” that she would find it again after it simply “vanished.”

Popham thought she remembered dropping the ring in the bathroom while getting ready in a rush one day when her four children were young, but after repeatedly searching the room, never found it.

Years later, they realized there was a minuscule gap in the bottom of their built-in cabinet—but after getting on her knees and searching the gap with the flashlight on her phone, there was still no sign.

“I had a sliver of hope that that ring was under the built-in bathroom cabinet,” she told Newsweek. “Because the ring vanished, I always held on to some hope that it just might be under there.”

And finally, in June of this year, Popham decided to renovate the bathroom. Out came the built-in cabinet—and there, lying at the far wall as far away from the gap as possible, was her ring.

“There’s no logical explanation on how it could’ve bounced under there, much less rolled to the wall where it was laying,” she said of the ring her husband had proposed to her with over 30 years before. “It truly is a miracle.”

A video of the emotional moment Popham found her long-lost ring was shared to her TikTok account, @danapopham, as she told followers: “I lost my wedding ring 20 years ago. And today I found it.”

It shows Popham, standing beside the wall where the built-in cabinet used to be, in tears and throwing her hands to her face—before showing the ring, covered in dust on the ground.

Her hands shake as she places the ring back on her finger for the first time in 20 years and shares a kiss with her husband, before she tearfully shows the ring to the camera.

Popham wrote in the caption: “My original wedding ring from 31 years ago. Covered in dust, but full of meaning.

“It’s not about the diamond. It’s about what it represents to me. The sweetness. The life we’ve lived. The family we’ve built. The love that’s still here. Sometimes the most precious things are still right there, just waiting to be found.”

TikTok users celebrated alongside Popham, awarding the video more than 315,000 likes, as one wrote: “My husband lost his ring the day after we got married, we just renovated our bathroom yesterday and he found it when we removed the vanity!”

“It’s all meant to be! There’s always a reason! It’s like a new beginning for you, a new cycle coming up,” another suggested, as another said: “Congrats. It was ready to reappear.”

Popham told Newsweek she thinks the emotions hit harder because she was realizing “all the life that had happened with my kids, with my husband, in that home—and that ring was there all the time.”

“We’re entering into a new season of life as new empty-nesters,” she explained.

“My oldest daughter got married two years ago, and then my other daughter got married in April of this year. My son got married in May of this year, and then my youngest son is getting married in October of this year.

“We’ve had so much change, and we are entering into a new season, [so] it just felt like it was such a full circle moment!”

Choosing an engagement ring is a pivotal moment for any soon-to-be married couple, and the most popular trends have been around for decades.

The classic round center stone engagement rings remain the favorite, with 28 percent of respondents choosing a round gem, according to The Knot’s 2024 Jewelry and Engagement Study.

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