4-year-old sensed 'old person' at grocery store was 'sad' so she asked him a question — it redefined everything for them
A friendship might bring back joy in a person's life and comfort parts that one never knew were aching. Something similar happened in 2016 to an 81-year-old man who went to a grocery store months after his wife's death. The man was overcome with grief, but then a 4-year-old girl noticed him and tried to talk to him. An unlikely friendship bloomed from then on that brought a lot of joy to both the old man and the little girl, per WBUR. It also changed the man's life around and gave him a reason to go on until his death in February 2020.
The man, Dan Peterson, was really attached to his wife, whom he referred to as an "angel." He explained, "I’ve always been a bit of a loner, so we had each other. We just devoted ourselves to each other. I had it all figured out that I was gonna die first and so that’s no problem." But unfortunately, Mary died of heart issues at 80 years old after being in the hospital for 35 days. Dan sat beside her unresponsive body for hours. His wife's death was hard to come to terms with for him. "I’m sitting here staring out the back window of my house, just waiting it out to see how long I'm going to live. I felt like all I had left to do was get in people’s way." But six months later, the man had to go on a grocery run and was feeling particularly depressed that day.
"I hadn’t shaved for a couple of days and hadn’t had a haircut probably for three months. What do I do tomorrow? Watch squirrels?" Dan thought. But on that day, Tara Wood was shopping with her 4-year-old daughter, Norah. The girl was super excited because it was her birthday that day. "I come to the end of the hall, or aisle and here’s this little girl and she’s sort of bouncing up and down and pointing at me and she said, 'Hi, old person. Today’s my birfday (sic),'" Dan recounted. "I thought he needed a friend, because he was sad," Norah pointed out. The man couldn't help but smile at the happy little girl. "Well, hi, little lady, how old are you today?" Dan responded. They even took a picture together before they parted ways. However, the little girl was constantly worried about the old man, so her mom planned a lunch with him.
"We ended up spending, gosh, almost three hours together that day. I just decided then and there that, whether he liked it or not, we had just absorbed him into our family of nine," Tara expressed. On her way out, Dan gave Norah the single rose in his bushes and cut each thorn with his pocket knife. "That sort of sealed our friendship, I think." The family used to visit him every week after that, as well as spend all the holidays and birthdays together. The duo grew squash together and Dan shared numerous stories with the family. "Norah got me out of the loop. Gave me something to live for," Dan pointed out. Norah and her little sister continued to visit Dan for more than three years after that. "He’s funny. I get to draw. I get to do puzzles and he’s really sweet. I like it when he tells me about his childhood, when he was little," Norah shared in an update. He also became a great friend to the mom, Tara.
According to a Facebook post from Norah and Mr. Dan, the girl gave Dan a metal bird sculpture for Christmas before his death in 2020. "He passed away before he was able to hang it," the mom shared in the caption. "Today is Norah’s 8th birthday, which means it’s also the fourth anniversary of Norah and Dan’s first meeting. We hung the chickadees in honor of their friendship." On the girl's 9th birthday and the fifth anniversary of their meeting, the mom wrote on her Facebook account, "We miss him terribly but know he’d be delighted with the thoughtful, kind-hearted kid she continues to be."
Many people wished the little girl as well in the comments section of the post. Karen Hutzcal wrote, "Happy Birthday! Sweet Norah! May you enjoy a beautiful, fun birthday! I miss Mr. Dan, too, as we'd write each other and I know you'd like the surprises I sent you and Marigold." Pamela Smith commented, "One of the best stories and most beautiful friendships ever!"