Trucker reunited with lost wedding ring that represents 'entire life'

Dave Thomson calls it "a Christmas miracle."

The truck driver left Lewisporte on Saturday and headed west for the ferry. Along the way, he stopped in Bishop's Falls, where he put his work gloves on and walked around the truck to check a few things.

"I recently lost a fair bit of weight, so my wedding ring was loose on my finger, and I knew that, it's been like that for a little bit now," Thomson said.

"A few times I've lost it I've felt it come off inside the glove."

He finished his checks, got back in the truck, put his gloves away and hit the road again, stopping for fuel a few hours later in Deer Lake.

That ring has never left my finger. I never take it off, I never have, it's like a part of me.- Dave Thomson

"As I started to make the turn and put my hand on the wheel I looked down, and that's when I realized my wedding ring was gone," said Thomson.

"That ring has never left my finger. I never take it off, I never have, it's like a part of me. For 19 years it's been on my finger, so as I glanced down, I gasped and my heart dropped because the only other place that I was was three hours back the other way."

But he didn't panic.Thomson figured the ring had come off and stayed inside his work glove.

"I got my glove, stuck my hand in the glove, and sure enough no ring. Now I panicked."

'I don't want another one'

Thomson called his wife right away, and he said she was disappointed but suggested getting a new ring.

"I said 'well, I don't want another one, I want this one!'" he laughed.

Thomson said he knew it was a long shot, but he had to check where he had stopped his truck earlier in the day. He called his 18-year-old son, told him exactly where the rig had been parked and got him to drive to Bishop's Falls.

"He was there for about 20 minutes or half an hour, moving through some snow and whatever was kicking around," Thomson said.

"He said he had to search around for a little bit, and sure enough, he phones me and says he found the ring, sitting on the ground just waiting for him. It was a bit of a Christmas miracle."

Thomson was shocked his son was able to find the ring, but said in the time that it was missing he realized how much it meant to him.

"It really gets you thinking that ring has been with me through everything. I got married very young, I was 21 years old and we're still married 19 years later. Everybody said we were crazy and young and we weren't going to make it and we did, we have three amazing children who are accomplishing so much," he said.

"All those things started rushing through my mind that ring represents my entire life, the best part of my life."

When I lost my ring I felt I lost a part of my soul.- Dave Thomson

The ring has been with him through so many milestones in his own life, Thomson said, as well as in his children's lives.

"I grew up and became a man wearing that ring on my finger, and now, here I am teaching my kids how to be contributing people to society, to be men and how to love and all those things," he explained.

"That's what it meant to me, so when I lost my ring, I lost the object that represents every good thing in the last 19 years. I felt I lost a part of my soul."

Thomson said he even carried his father's casket at his funeral wearing the ring.

"To me, at the end of your life, that ring signifies something to the people you leave behind," he said.

Thomson's hoping not to lose it again after having lost a few pounds.

"We keep talking about getting it resized, but we just haven't yet so I guess this is motivation to make sure," he chuckled.

With files from Bailey White

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