Woman Moves Into Texas Home – What Her 98-Year-Old Neighbor Does Brings Her To Tears

A woman from Texas said Newsweek how she burst into tears when her 98-year-old neighbor visited her.

Last month, Kelly McDuff and her fiancé bought their first home in Richardson. She said she was “a little nervous” about moving to a new town, but a visit from her new neighbor helped ease some of those concerns.

“I just got home and he came and rang my doorbell a few minutes later. He must have seen me drive in,” she said. When she opened the door, McDuff was stunned to see an older man holding a beautiful chocolate cake with a note

“It was such a nice gesture,” she said. “He introduced himself and welcomed me to the neighborhood. He’s lived in his home for 52 years, and his stepdaughter lives with him now.”

The neighbor, whose name McDuff asked not to be named to protect his privacy, told her he “hopes we love this place as much as he does.”

Her elderly neighbor’s efforts understandably left McDuff upset. “It was such a sweet interaction,” she said. Knowing that other people would “appreciate it,” McDuff decided to “spread positivity” by sharing a clip of what happened on TikTok under the username kellyann2339.

“I love this place,” she wrote alongside the footage. Viewers were quick to praise her neighbor for welcoming her with such warmth, with many saying it was a stark contrast to how neighbors behave today.

For many Americans, encountering a neighbor is something they would rather avoid.

A 2021 survey of 2,000 U.S. adults by OnePoll on behalf of Homes.com found that a whopping 36 percent of respondents had had full-blown arguments with neighbors, and 25 percent had been embroiled in a long-term feud with someone next door. In fact, more than 40 percent said they deliberately try to avoid neighbors wherever possible.

“This is the generation that held everything together like glue because they had manners,” wrote one commenter. Another said, “They don’t make neighbors like that anymore… gems,” and a third commented, “This is what neighbors used to do for each other, it was normal.”

McDuff said she remembers people going out of their way to help their neighbors as children.

“That was the norm for my family in Baton Rouge! If someone new moved in, we would bring them something. Same thing with funerals and stuff like that,” she said.

However, she is confident there are plenty of people willing to help their neighbors if needed.

“People think it’s really rare, but I honestly think there are more people like this out there than we realize,” she said. “It’s just not caught on video.”

Either way, McDuff has already returned the favor. “I made him a lemon pie from scratch, and he said he loved lemon pie,” she said.

“We don’t have a dining table since we recently moved, but we plan to invite them over for dinner once we get settled in.”

Just make sure your neighbor brings dessert.