Editor’s Note: During this season of Thanksgiving, we would love to print more columns like this one from people who are thankful to live in Champaign-Urbana. If you want to contribute one, please let us know — email us at editor@chambanamoms.com.
by Sara Benson
A few weeks ago, I met my husband and 3-year-old daughter at Hessel Park after work to play in the leaves. It was a beautiful, sunny Friday afternoon and the park was full of moms, dads, grandparents, and children. My daughter suggested we make a pile of leaves and then jump in it. How could I resist?
I playfully joined in and felt a rush of panic as I flung a bunch of leaves into the pile. I felt my wedding ring and my engagement ring slip off of my fingers! Oh no! I immediately stopped and began the search.
I found the wedding ring quickly, but the engagement ring seemed to elude me. I hailed my husband and pleaded with my daughter to stop building the pile and help me search. A kind mother and her child joined in and helped me narrow down the area, but the search seemed endless.
Finally, I decided to rent a metal detector for an even narrower search.
The ladies who rented the metal detector wished me well as I set out at 4:30 p.m. to find my ring. Mind you, I had until 5:30 p.m. to return the metal detector, so I was a woman on a mission.
No sooner had I begun using the metal detector than many moms and dads asked what I was searching for. “You don’t look like a vagrant,” they joked, “so we knew you must have lost something in the leaves and wanted to help.”
I explained my dilemma and they joined in the search. More and more moms and dads helped and their kids (even the 2-year-old precious little toddler) joined in. By now, it seemed that everyone remaining at the park was connected in the mission to find my engagement ring.
“I’ve got it insured,” I noted to the moms who couldn’t believe how calm I was in the face of this looming tragedy. “But, it is, of course, very valuable to me for sentimental reasons.”
Well, the time was 5:15 p.m. and the park sun was about to go down. I was about to give up when a 7-year-old boy tapped me on the shoulder. He was calmly holding out my ring!
I hugged him and began a quick spur-of-the-moment speech. It went something like this: “This is the reason I love this town. You saw me struggling to find my ring and you took the time to help out. Not everyone would do this, but the people from Champaign-Urbana are truly wonderful people. Thank you to each and every one of you for making this town great.”
With tears in my eyes, I returned the metal detector to the rental store.
As it turns out, I never needed it in the first place. I only needed my community of caring, thoughtful Champaign-Urbana residents all along.
Sara Benson is a lecturer in Law at the University of Illinois College of Law and the mother of Avery, her precious 3-year-old daughter.