A woman has shared footage showing the sweet thing her elderly neighbor does anytime a package arrives for her while she is out.
Kameisha Brooks from Huntsville, Alabama, can be forgiven for feeling a little worried about a delivery being left outside her door. After all, package thefts are rife in the U.S.
Last year, a poll of over 1,000 U.S. adults conducted by Security.org found that 17 percent of respondents had had a package stolen over the three months prior. On a wider scale, 44 percent of the U.S. adults polled said they had suffered the misfortune of having a package taken from outside their property at some point in their life.
Brooks need not have worried too much, though. As she was going about her day, she received a notification from her Ring doorbell app. Bringing up the footage on her phone, she broke out in a smile at the sight of who was there. It was her friend and neighbor James, who communicated with a few words and a simple hand gesture that everything would be fine.
That is the kind of support Brooks and her neighbor have been giving each other ever since she moved to Huntsville in 2020. “I was new to the city,” Brooks told Newsweek. “Me, James and his wife became really close.”
Brooks was closest to James’ wife at first, but that changed in 2023. “She passed away last year, and me and him became even closer,” she said.
Brooks was with James during this most traumatic of moments. Late one night, he woke her to ask if she could see if his wife was still breathing after she collapsed on the bathroom floor. Though CPR was administered, James’s wife died.
Since then, she has done all she can to try to provide him with some company and someone to lean on. Brooks and James spent the Thanksgiving holidays together, and she tries to make time for him whenever she can. “I try to get him out of the house and check in when I’m not so busy with both my jobs,” Brooks said.
Brooks said she works from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. most days but still catches up with James about twice a week. That’s what made the sight of him picking up her package that day so special. It was a reminder that she had someone looking out for her.
“It’s reassuring,” Brooks said. “Seeing him brightens my day. He has a sweet spirit and soul, and I know his wife wouldn’t want it any other way. She would want to make sure he’s OK and in good hands.”
Brooks, who had been away on a trip, eventually returned home and checked in with James. There will have been plenty more catch-ups and chats since then, but there was something about that video and the way he watched out for her that resonated with viewers when Brooks shared the clip to TikTok under the handle @ms2tall31.
As one fan wrote: “When he pointed and said next door nothing else needed to be said. I love good neighbors.” Another posted, “I wish I had a neighbor like that,” with a third writing: “That’s a man that cares about you. We all need random uncles and dads out here.”
Brooks said she hopes that the video inspires others to reach out to their neighbors and forge the kind of bond she has with James. “I think we all should be aware of our surroundings at all times and also get acquainted,” she added.
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