YPSILANTI, Mich. - You can't make this stuff up, so thank god there's clairvoyant visions and responsible store managers to help create them instead.
Who knows how long Monica Jones had been without her engagement ring before she discovered the naked finger on her left hand. But there she was, unaware of the jewelry that had been with her for decades, and now it was just gone.
"One morning, I was sitting on my couch and my husband says 'hey, let's clean our wedding rings, it'll be 24 years this year.' and I looked down to get my wedding ring off my finger and it was not there," Jones said. "And I went into panic mode."
Panic mode is an understatement. She cried, searched her home, her car, her office - pretty much anywhere one might part ways with one of the most important pieces a married individual might accessorize with.
This browser does not support the Video element.
After a month of missing, woman finds lost engagement ring at Dollar Tree in Ypsilanti
One woman thought her engagement ring was gone forever when her husband told her they should clean their together. It had been 24 years of marriage after all. But, then a dream told her to look at the Dollar Tree, just in case it was still there.
And then, like out of a movie, she had a dream.
"The first time I saw my hands at the dollar store and they were going inside these potato chips," she recalled.
She had that dream twice. The longshot that the symbol of a bond forged almost two-and-a-half decades ago might be resting in the lost-and-found of their local Dollar Tree is hard to measure. But after a month of missing and panic mode turning into depressing acceptance, this was her new reality, Jones was willing to do anything.
She went to the Dollar Tree store on Washtenaw Road in Ypsilanti and approached the clerk.
"And I said 'by any chance, and I know this is crazy, but did someone turn in a diamond marquise wedding ring?'" she said. "And he just kind of looked at me strangely and he said 'well, what color is the band?'"
Yes - a dream of baked potatoes manifested itself in a form of salivation most couldn't fathom in their lifetime. And there it was, being held by a Mr. Otis Sims of the Dollar Tree. Now not everything of this fairy tale is true - primarily the ring being found on top of a calendar, not in a bag of potato chips - but we're willing to let it slide.
"He comes out with it and asks 'is this it?' I went 'ahh!' and just started crying. I hugged him and hugged him and I still can't praise him enough," said Taylor.
That was back in August. And she continues to sing Sims' praise.
"So when I had the ring, 'I said, can I do the honors, by placing this ring back on your finger,' where it belongs for 20-something years," said Sims.