Couple Says They Moved Next Door to an Elderly Man With No Family Nearby and Became Besties, and Their Video Shows Ice Cream, Pottery Painting, Christmas Pajamas and a Photo Shoot

The text laid over the video from @julissa.and.delmar states the whole premise in one sentence: “we moved next door to an elderly man who doesn’t have family nearby and became besties.” The caption adds the result: “now we are family.”

Left: cover still from an Instagram reel by @. Right: Assorted colorful clay pots arranged together (Unsplash photo by Sidney Pearce).

The clip is 22 seconds long, and that one line of text, ending in a teary eyed face emoji and a red heart, stays on screen from the first frame to the last. It opens in a living room with a glowing floor lamp, where a young woman and man sit side by side smiling while the older man, in a maroon shirt in a red chair beside them, talks and gestures with one hand. The caption carries only the line “now we are family” and a handful of hashtags, among them #neighbors and #family.

From there the video cuts through a series of outings, a few seconds each. On a sunny patio under a leafy tree, the three sit at a wooden table with cups of ice cream, and the older man, in the same maroon shirt, digs into his with a spoon while the young woman laughs beside him. At a craft table, he paints a small pink ring dish with a thin brush, with a palette of paints at his elbow and a checkerboard pattern butter dish in front of him that someone else is painting. Next come two selfie style shots at restaurant tables, first in an indoor booth and then at an outdoor table with plates of food in front of them, the young woman grinning at the camera while the older man sits behind her and the young man wears sunglasses.

The holiday scene is the one that reads most like family. All three stand side by side in front of a Christmas tree in a living room, the older man in the middle, the couple on each side, all in dark tops and matching plaid pajama pants. The final shot is outdoors on a wide green lawn under a clear blue sky, where a photographer in a dark jacket is shooting a small group that includes a bride in a white gown and a man in a suit.

The premise of the caption, that a person with no family nearby became part of a family, lines up with what U.S. health agencies say about connection. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports on its social connection page, citing a 2024 report, that about 1 in 3 U.S. adults report feeling lonely and about 1 in 4 report not having social and emotional support. The same page states that older adults are more at risk for social isolation, and that isolation and loneliness can raise the risk of heart disease, stroke, dementia and earlier death.

The U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory on social connection puts a number on the stakes: lacking social connection can raise the risk of premature death by about as much as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. It also gives a plain list of what to do about it, including “make time to share a meal” and “perform an act of service.”

The National Institute on Aging, in a set of tips published through the National Library of Medicine, says one in four adults aged 65 and older are socially isolated. Its suggestions for staying connected include “trying a new activity” or revisiting an old hobby, meeting other people who share your interests, and getting involved in your community. The pottery painting in this video is exactly that kind of shared activity, one that gives a neighbor something to do with his hands and someone to do it with.

The video’s own scenes read like that list. The ice cream and the restaurant selfie are shared meals. The craft table and the holiday photo are shared time with no agenda. A reader with an older neighbor can start smaller than a lawn photo shoot: pick one repeating activity, like dessert on a patio or a hobby at a table, and invite the neighbor to it by name, instead of waiting for an occasion.