Mother, son reunite, 36 years later

SALT LAKE CITY - It's a reunion fit for the holiday season.

Thirty-six years after he was given up for adoption at the age of 1, John Harper of Roy finally met his biological mother.

Harper and his mother, Cecelia Higgins, embraced during an emotional reunion Friday at Salt Lake City International Airport, KTVX-TV reported .

"Hey, Mom, good to see you," Harper said as they hugged.

"Don't let go. Don't ever let go," she replied.

"I love you, too, Mom," Harper whispered.

"I'm sorry it took so long to find you," she said.

The last time Higgins held her son he was just a baby. Higgins said she gave her son - whom she named Richard - up for adoption because she was still in high school and had no job.

"I always wondered: Did I do the right thing? Were they OK, were they alive, were they happy?" she said. "I asked him if the nightmare was finally over that I can go to bed at night and I don't have to dream bad dreams anymore."

Harper had spent the last 20 years looking for his father, mother and brother before finding his father earlier this year in an Internet search. He met his father, Richard Higgins, and brother for the first time in October.

Harper said he had been trying to track down his parents for a long time, and it was a relief to finally meet them.

"Being able to meet my mother for the first time during the holidays ... I consider that a Christmas miracle and early Christmas present," Harper told KTVX.

Harper lives with his wife and 8-year-old step daughter in Roy, about 30 miles north of Salt Lake City.