A Fairfield man's wedding band is back on his finger after spending a few days in Long Island Sound— an unlikely reunion that’s all thanks to a stranger’s kindness.

Family time at Jennings Beach didn't go quite as planned for Lou Schede on Friday.

“I was playing with my kids in the water. I was probably about 3 feet deep, and we were playing tag, and all of a sudden, I realized I lost my ring. And I was devastated,” Schede recalled. “I've had this ring for 12 years, and it's got an inscription in it and our wedding date, and it was just a very personal item.”

Schede attempted a search for it using a pair of kids goggles.

“It was low tide. It was very murky. It was hard to find anything on the bottom. I could barely see my hands,” Schede told News 12. “I was feeling kind of down about the whole thing.”

He resigned himself to it being gone forever and started looking for replacement bands over the weekend. Then his wife posted about the lost ring on social media in case anyone in the community happened to come across it in the water.

Someone responded with a name: Wayne Aguiar.

Aguiar is a University of Bridgeport professor from Old Saybrook whose passion outside of work is metal detecting. Aguiar said that longtime hobby has ramped up the past three years into professional recovery work for people who’ve lost things, often jewelry. So, Aguiar was more than happy to help when contacted by Schede.

“I called him up and asked, and he said, ‘If you pay for gas, I'll look for it. And if I find it, we can talk about a reward.’” Schede said.

Aguiar he drove from Old Saybrook to Fairfield, arriving Monday evening.

“I got to Jennings Beach, and when I got there, the weather changed. A thunderstorm came in. I was standing on the beach and just realized it wasn't going to happen. It was too dangerous. There was lightning and thunder everywhere,” Aguiar explained.

“He's like, ‘I can't go in the water. I'll come back tomorrow.’ And sure enough, at 6:30 a.m., he was here, and he was in the water,” Schede added. “I didn't think he was going to be able to find it, especially with the storm recently. I thought that had moved it around, but when he told me the ocean wasn't ready to give it up, that gave me hope that he was dedicated to looking for it.”

So, Aguiar searched and searched and searched.

“It took a little while because there was a lot of trash in the water. It was very difficult. And right at the end—it was a couple hours—I got a really good signal, dug it up. I dumped my scoop out and the ring fell out of the scoop, and he was standing there, and I just looked at his face. It was so cool! He got so excited. He dove down, grabbed the ring, threw it on his finger, and he started looking at it, and he said, ‘You found it!’” Aguiar recalled. “It’s such a great feeling. I can't even describe in words how great I feel after I do a return.”

“I just couldn't believe it. I'm still kind of in shock as I'm just touching my ring here and just thinking about getting it back. It's kind of miraculous,” Schede told News 12, adding that his ring is even more special now, reminding him not just of his wedding but the kindness of strangers. “There's good people out there and that's, that's really important.”

Aguiar said his goal is to restore people’s faith in humanity and remind them that there are people who care and will at least try to help.

“I can't always be successful, but I can at least give you that sense,” Aguiar explained.

To learn more about Aguiar, click here or here.