LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A picture is worth a thousand words, but the return of a wedding photo swept away by a tornado has one widow speechless.

“A very different life now, you know this was almost 30 years ago,” Susej Thompson said.

A moment in time, captured in a photo. Susej Thompson lost her husband 10 years ago and seeing the moment they began their lives together, brought many mixed emotions.

“You know I have had some other pictures resurface, but this was not the one that I expected,” and “this is a hard picture because it has someone who is not with us anymore,” Thompson said.

The photo was blown away when their house was destroyed in the March tornado.

“I’m just going to receive this as a sign of how loved I am and to be reminded of a time of such beauty and such faith in life,” Thompson said.

Thompson described the first time she got to hold the photo again.

“This was painful at first to look at it and the joy on her face, and I got the best parts of his life, I got this beautiful family, and we are so loved,” Thompson said.

Thompson said with every photo returned, it is a new memory unlocked with the old.

“Every picture returned to us is an opportunity to preserve some of the history for my kids, especially of their dad so that’s been really beautiful,” Thompson said.

Even though she will get to grasp one more photo, she said when she thinks about all of the things scattered.

“I know there is going to be a lot more letting go to do,” Thompson stated.