Cherished Wedding Centerpiece Found Buried In The LNU Complex Fire Ashes As Families Return Home

SOLANO COUNTY (CBS13) - Families who were forced to evacuate from the LNU Lightning Complex wildfire are now able to return home.

Anna Erickson said her heart is slowly healing after losing almost everything in the fires.

"My heart dropped," Erickson said."This is my first time down here since then," she said.

Digging through the ashes with her husband Edwin on Thursday, they found years of memories burned.

"I lost 95 percent of my belongings, all of my son's baby pictures," Anna said.

Their family left their home last week anticipating since then what they would return to.

"I feel like it still hasn't completely hit. We've been in hotels, we just got evacuated," she said.

Despite losing so much, they found out not all was lost.

Edwin stumbled upon their wedding glasses and Anna found a special vase.

"This was [from] the first flowers he gave me, this was the vase," she explained.

Even more remarkable they say is a centerpiece found from their wedding day.

"This is our wedding decoration – our centerpiece," Anna explained while pulling the centerpiece from the ashes.

It's a centerpiece with the word love from the day the two gave their hearts to one another.

Anna said their hearts are now stronger than ever – reminded that with love comes happiness.

"Love remains, yeah, that's all that remains is love," the couple said.