Maybe you’re the kind of person who believes in fate, the serendipitous aligning of the stars that brings people together in the most unexpected ways. Maybe you’re more of a cynic that believes things happen more at random, unrelated to the universe and its plans for us. Whatever kind of personality and perspective you’ve got, you’ll be hard-pressed NOT to find just a little bit of magic in the following story. After one vacation, a dad accidentally dropped his camera into a river. Of course, he never thought he’d see it again — he’d lost it while jumping off of a cliff, and the camera presumably sank to the bottom. With it, he lost lots of photographs from the vacation, precious family memories that were just, well, gone. That is, until a year later, when something magical happened. Read more about this amazing twist of fate and how one man’s act of kindness preserved important family memories — and made some new memories in the process.Kyle Puelston, from Minnesota, lost his camera while swimming in a river. Sadly, it was full of family moments that he thought he’d never see again.

Which, looking at this cliff jump, isn’t very hard to believe.

He was wearing the GoPro around his head to document his jump, but sadly, it just wasn’t on there as tight as it should have been.

Finally, he gave up, and figured he’d just never see the camera (or the pictures) ever again.

Two brothers were snorkeling in the very same river, and they actually found the camera.

Somehow, it had lasted through the winter ice and spring thaw. One of the brothers decided to figure out who the camera belonged to.

He was able to identify him through his badge.

A father himself, he’d almost lost his baby daughter to an illness the previous year.

He contacted the owner of the camera to give it back.

“It’s all so fleeting, we’re not guaranteed tomorrow,” Flores said. Thankfully, his daughter is well now.

He ended up keeping just the memory card, giving the camera to Flores as a thank you.

“What he did was a testament to his character,” Puelston said about Flores’ act of kindness.

A twist of fate led to a cool connection, the preservation of family memories, and one of those stories they’ll be telling for years to come.
