A touching reunion between a Valley father and his daughter after 29 years of no contact due to a rocky break-up between her parents.
12 News captured the emotional reunion as she arrived at the airport from Nashville with her 10-year old daughter to see her dad, his wife and his 10-year-old daughter.
“I’m here today, waiting for my daughter,” said David Armstrong, as he waited outside her arrival gate at the airport. Emotions – running high.
“I never thought that we would get to see her again,” he said.
The last time he saw his daughter Alicia was when she was two years old, 29 years ago.
“Right outside of Nashville, when me and her mom had split up,” he said. “I was asked no contact from her mom… unless she wanted to contact me.”
A few months ago, he got a surprise phone call.
“She hung up before she answered, but it came up with her name on there,” said Armstrong, who then called back. “She broke down, because she didn’t know what to say… she said that she was my daughter.”
He remembers her telling him she had been wanting to get in contact with him, but she was afraid he wouldn’t know who she was.
“That was not the case,” he said. “I explained to her what had happened in the past, that we needed to arrange to have her come out or us go out there and see her.”
All of this brought mixed emotions.
“To find out that you’ve got a 10-year-old granddaughter, when you have a 10-year-old daughter also,” he said. “I hope that she sees that we are a good family.”
“You can’t get back the past, but you can move on,” he said.
“There she is, there she is,” his wife Marcy said.
David embraced his daughter with a hug, holding back tears. His wife, embracing Alicia’s daughter and introducing their daughter Emma. There were hugs all around.
“I’ve missed her, just family again… the missing link of the whole family… joy, lots of joy right now,” he said. “It’s just overwhelming.”
“You’re so pretty,” Marcy said.
“I’ve missed you,” he said.
“You look like me, it’s so weird,” said Alicia. “I know,” he said. “You can see all the resemblance.”
“Anything is possible, don’t close the door… great joy for the holidays.”
David hopes this reunion is the beginning of a long relationship.
“We’re going to take them to eat… try to make up for 29 lost years.”
David's daughter Alicia was able to track him down through an old Facebook page and then by contacting him through his air conditioning business. Social media once again helping connect people - this time in a life-changing way.