'There's tears coming to my eyes': Owner reunited with lost Fort McMurray photos
'The only thing I wanted and had to have was family photos'
An Alberta family will soon recover a small piece of home after a pair of photos lost in their hurried evacuation from Fort McMurray were found by a municipal worker.
Crystal DaRosa, an employee for the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, came across the two photos on Tuesday in the Abasand neighbourhood, one of the hardest hit by the recent wildfire.
One photo was of Margaret Bowater Park in Corner Brook, Nfld. The other, a portrait of a woman and toddler sitting on a beach.
Wanting to connect the photos with their owner, DaRosa posted pictures of the two photos to Facebook.
And that's how the owner of the pictures, Elita Gardner, learned they had been found. A friend of hers saw the pictures on Facebook and contacted her.
"It brought tears to my eyes, it was so overwhelming," Gardner said of seeing the two lost photos once more. "Even just speaking to you now, there's tears coming to my eyes."
'Almost more than my heart can handle'
Gardner had only minutes to pack her most important possessions on May 3 when the evacuation order was issued for Abasand. The electricity shut down while she was trying to get her things out the door.
"Everything was on fire," she said. "We had basically gotten out just in time and I had a house full of items — but the only thing I wanted and had to have was family photos."
Gardner is now safely out of the fire zone. She says the support she's received from friends and strangers in the days since she had to leave her home has been overwhelming.
As for DaRosa, whose sharp eyes played in reuniting Gardner with some of her memories, she said she is just happy to have been able to help.
"I'm overjoyed I've been able to provide a flash of happiness for someone who experienced so much devastation and heartbreak," said DaRosa. "Rain and finding the owners in one day? Almost more than my heart can handle."