In Happier News, A Woman Finds A Gold Ring, Not Shards Of Wood, In A Bag Of Beans

Here is some nice news at last. It's from Australia. Still, it's good to know nice things are happening somewhere in the world.

Sandra Hendren bought a bag of fresh green beans at Start Fresh Fruit Market in Bundaberg, about 125 miles from her home in Mulgildie, Queensland. When she got home, she decided to use the beans in a curry. She tore the bag open, and that was when she found the gold ring. (As far as foreign objects in food go, it could have been far worse.)

"It was just lucky that I liked the beans so much that I ripped the bag right open instead of just opening it the normal way, as I definitely wouldn't have seen it if I did that," she told Bundaberg Now. "I'm just glad I ate them all straight away and came across the ring and it didn't get thrown out."

At first she thought the ring might have been one of her own, but then she looked closer and noticed there was an unfamiliar inscription.

Hendren thought about where the ring could have come from and decided it was either from Start Fresh or possibly from a farmhand who had been packing the beans.

Sure enough, Nien Galang, an 18-year-old employee at the market, had lost a gold ring that day. It was a gift from his mother, inscribed with his birth date and the words "My Life," and it was the first time he'd ever worn it to work. He hadn't noticed it had fallen off until some time later, when he'd moved on to packing oranges.

Galang and the ring have been reunited. "I just want to thank Sandra for finding and returning it," he said. "I was really worried I wouldn't find it, and it's a pretty amazing story to tell now."

And, with any luck, his mother has forgiven him.