On a seemingly ordinary Saturday morning, 10-year-old Kal Blank accompanied his father on a quick shopping trip to Costco. While most kids might have been focused on snacks or toys, Kal’s sharp eyes were scanning the ground. He later confessed that he “has an eye for things that are shiny,” and that day, something caught his attention in the parking lot, and he picked it up.
Kal told media outlet KSDK: “I was like, ‘Why is this so heavy?’ I put it in my pocket, and my pocket was like – whoa – just hanging down.” Whatever it was, it didn’t feel like an ordinary find. When he later presented the discovery to his mom, Dr. Kelli Blank, she was stunned.
“He drops this ring in my hand, and my hand about hits the floor,” she recalled. Her first thought was immediate and heartfelt:
“This is a beautiful ring, and someone is missing this terribly.”
Meanwhile, a woman named Mae Pratzel was experiencing precisely that despair.
A grandmother from Springfield, Missouri, Mae had recently undergone surgery and lost weight. The change made her wedding band loose, though she didn’t realize it until it was too late. After returning her cart at the Manchester Costco, she looked down at her hand and felt her heart sink.
The ring’s center diamond wasn’t just any stone; it was the original diamond from her engagement ring, given to her by her husband, Alan Pratzel, more than five decades earlier. What Kal found that morning wasn’t just something shiny in a parking lot; it was Mae’s lost wedding ring, carrying more than 50 years of love and memories.
When Mae realized she had lost her ring, the heartbreak was immediate.
“It was one of the most awful feelings,” she told KDSK. She and her family tried to console themselves, repeating, “It’s a thing, it’s a ring.”
Yet deep down, Mae admitted that “it was more than that.”
Kal had come across the ring, and with his mother’s encouragement, he contacted their local Costco in Manchester. Store staff confirmed that someone had reported a ring missing, and the description matched Mae’s perfectly. But before returning it, Kal decided to make the moment more meaningful.
He carefully polished the ring, tucked it into a box his mother had brought back from Ireland, and included a handwritten note that read:
“I kind of wanted to keep it ’cause it was pretty and shiny.”
He finished with heartfelt words:
“I hope you relax now that you have your ring back.”
Mae drove from Springfield, Mo., to retrieve her ring and later phoned the family to offer thanks. During their conversation, unexpected ties emerged: one of her grandchildren attended school with Kal’s sister Josephine, and Kal’s father, Shane, an assistant U.S. attorney, had professional ties to Mae’s husband, Alan, a retired lawyer. The families soon met in person. Mae embraced Kal, telling him:
“You don’t know how special you are to me!”
She then turned to his parents: “He is an extremely special kid, and you guys have to be so proud.” Alan reflected that Kal’s kindness “just restores your faith in humanity.” For Mae and Alan, the timing was especially meaningful as the ring was back on her hand just in time for their 50th wedding anniversary.