Woman finds lost wedding ring in Instant Pot, reunites ring with rightful owner

PORT ORCHARD, Wash. — A Port Orchard woman was shocked when she opened an Instant Pot she got as a Christmas gift and found someone else’s wedding ring inside.

Joann Johnson thought her wedding ring was gone forever.

“It was this empty feeling, because it's, like, 20 years. I’ve had it 20 years, and to lose it just before our 20th anniversary. (My husband) wanted to get me another one. I said no, no, I don’t need another one,” Johnson said.

In October, Johnson lost her wedding ring while looking at Instant Pots at Walmart in Port Orchard. She and her husband scoured the aisles but never found it.

“We searched high and low. We went to customer service, they had nothing,” she said.

Fast forward to Dec. 25. Shiloah Avery opened the new Instant Pot she got for Christmas and couldn’t believe what she found inside.

“I was like, ‘Oh, there’s a ring in this.’ And everyone’s like, ‘OK, funny,’ and I was like, ‘No, really, there’s a wedding ring in this,’” Avery said.

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Avery said there was only one option. She went on social media to try to track the owner down.

“My first reaction was, 'We have to find who owns this. It’s not mine to keep,'” she said.

On Christmas evening, Johnson was scrolling through Facebook and noticed a post in the Port Orchard community page.

“I start reading where it says, ‘I found this ring,’ and instantly, my heart starts beating faster, going, 'OK, this is too much of a coincidence,'” she said.

Within hours, the two connected, and Johnson confirmed the ring belonged to her. She rushed to see Avery and was given the best present she could’ve dreamed of on Christmas Day.

“To me, she is my Christmas angel, she is my absolute Christmas angel. It made my year,” she said. “There was a more powerful hand than just Shiloah and I, that the right person bought it and gave it to the right person and that person was the right one to post it on Facebook.”

For Johnson, her wedding ring represents 20 years of happiness. It also symbolizes the start of a new friendship that formed on a Christmas the two women will never forget.

Cox Media Group