TAMPA, Fla. — Stuart Montgomery and his wife Lorraine arrived at Tampa International Airport two hours before the British Airways flight from London to Tampa was scheduled to land.

“This morning it was…5 weeks to go, 3 weeks to go, 2 weeks, it’s a week and now it’s only a couple of hours,” Montgomery said.

Montgomery sported a smile so bright on the outside but on the inside, he was trying to hold back his tears. That’s because in January 2020, he posted a picture on Facebook showing a resemblance between his then 8-year-old daughter and his granddaughter. 

“March 2020," he said, "I got a friend request on Facebook just completely out of the blue.” 

That request was from his daughter Sheryl Govans. 

Life’s challenges prevented them from seeing each other for 30 years, and then when a reunion was scheduled, the world shut down.

“We had planned to be here within weeks, worked through flights, and then suddenly that was all off,” he said, adding that the year wait was all worth it for the exact moment to see him. 

Govans, 38, hugged her dad on Saturday for the first time since she was 8 years old.

“It’s been a long time coming," she said. "Obviously with COVID, we’ve had to wait two years nearly, I still don’t believe it.”

There are 30 years of conversations and catching up that will happen during the week that Sheryl gets to spend with her dad

“Well, you can see I’m so hot and sweaty because I’m so nervous but it’s great to finally be here because my sister lives back home in Glasgow and she’s been talking about it for a long time and so it’s really amazing,” she said.

She told Bay News 9 it’s amazing to finally be able to learn all about the person she’s been missing.