A California man turned heartbreak into hope when he discovered his engagement ring miraculously intact in the rubble of their wildfire-destroyed home and proposed to his girlfriend amid the rubble.
Earlier this month, Brian McShea and Stephanie Raynor returned to their Altadena property to assess the devastation left by the wildfire, which ravaged over 14,000 acres, destroyed 16,000 structures, and claimed at least 28 lives.
While sifting through the ashes of his desk, McShea, who had hidden the ring there before the fire, held onto slim hope.
"I was thinking, 'Well, maybe the stone can survive and maybe we'll find the little stone,'" said McShea as reported by The Mirror. "I thought the ring was going to completely disintegrate."
Despite his doubts, McShea and Raynor combed the remains where his desk once stood.
"You just brush away some rubble, and there's a little ring," McShea said. "And you pick that up, and it's actually a washer to something. That happened like four times, and then you pick it up, and there's a little diamond."
Overcome with emotion, McShea abandoned his plans for a later proposal. Dropping to one knee in the debris, he asked Raynor to marry him wearing full protective gear, including a white hood and PPE suit.
"And I was on my knees and I was like, 'Hey, will you marry me?'" McShea recalled.
"And I'm crying," Raynor added.
The couple, deeply connected to their Altadena community, has yet to set a wedding date. They're hopeful about rebuilding their lives and home.
"We're really hoping that Los Angeles can support Altadena in its rebuild effort for the next couple years and we're able to return because this community is just so special," McShea said.
McShea and Raynor are close to reaching their $50,000 fundraising goal on GoFundMe after losing nearly all their belongings in the Eaton Fire. Created by their bandmates, the fundraiser hopes to help them rebuild after escaping the fire with little more than their pets.
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