PECOS, Texas — There are just some things that you never want to lose, but sometimes that does happen and you don’t see it again. That's not the case in Pecos.
After 10 years, a man who had lost his college ring got it back, and it’s all thanks to a high school sophomore.
Andy Gomez hadn't seen his ring in 10 years, but he never stopped looking for it.
"We just never stopped," Gomez said. "We didn’t know where we lost it so we didn’t know where to look. We looked all over the house and there’s no telling where it went and it ended up at the high school according to Avery, and I guess he found it."
Avery Compton, a sophomore at Pecos High School, just happened to notice something on the ground outside the school.
"We happened to walk by the corner of the school, and I just saw something sticking out of the ground, so I picked it up and it happened to be a ring," Compton said. "So later that day, I decided I’d clean it at home and it turned out pretty nice, pretty sparkly, and later on my mom knew someone who found out who it belongs to."
However, after 10 years, Gomez wasn't expecting to see it ever again.
"I couldn’t believe it," Gomez said. "I mean I never thought I’d see this ring again, and all of a sudden it shows up and Avery found it. He cleaned it up and then he brought it back to me, and I really appreciated it. I thought I'd never see that ring again."
It's a gesture that brought two families, who had never met prior to this, together.
"They found who it was, and then my mom started talking to them," Compton said. "Then the next day we went and returned it and they were super thankful and everything, and he had lost that ring about 10 years ago, so it’s been a while since they last saw it."
More than anything, Gomez is just proud of Avery for bringing it back.
"I'll tell you what, I'm very proud of Avery," Gomez said. "The guy's a really nice guy. I'm really proud that he found it, and cleaned it up, brought it back to me. I'm sure he took a lot of time to find me because he didn't know me."