(UPI) A Texas man who lost his wedding ring at a Florida beach was reunited with the precious item after it was found by another Texas family visiting the same beach.

Dallas resident Chris Ramirez said he was visiting a Fort Lauderdale beach with his family and he decided to remove his wedding ring for safekeeping.

"The water was a little choppy so I decided to take my ring off and I put it in the diaper bag," Ramirez told WSVN-TV. While moving from where we were sitting back to the resort, the ring somehow fell out. It ended up in the sand.

Ramirez said he reported the missing ring at a nearby hotel after he was unable to find it.

"I thought it was definitely a long shot," he told KXAS-TV. I knew I lost it at the beach and I thought there's no way that this is going to come up. There's just no way.

Charlotte Duffey of Mansfield, Texas, was visiting the same beach with her family when she came across something in the sand.

"I was walking along the beach and I was looking down and I saw a gold ring in the sand," Charlotte Duffey said.

Duffey said she decided to try to find the ring's owner, but her daughter, Latosha, was skeptical.

"I was like, this is one in a trillion that you'll find whose ring this is," Latosha Duffey said.

Charlotte Duffey contacted the hotel, which was able to put her in touch with Ramirez.

The families were surprised to learn they are both from North Texas.

"Small world indeed," Charlotte Duffey said.

Ramirez said he is grateful to Duffey for making the effort to return his ring.

"The biggest lesson, outside of losing your ring and don't lose it, is knowing there's still good people out there," he said. They're willing to pay it forward and help each other.

Copyright 2022 by United Press International