This 4-year-old’s birthday guest list was all senior citizens, and it made sense
When it was time to plan his birthday party, 4-year-old Roman Butzlaff's guest list was made up entirely of the elderly neighbors he had befriended by waving hello each morning.
When Roman Butzlaff’s birthday came around, there was really only one guest list that made sense to his mother: his senior-citizen neighbour friends. The four-year-old from Concord, North Carolina, had spent months building friendships with them, one morning wave at a time.
Roman’s habit of greeting every passer-by began about a year ago, after his parents split up, his father relocated to Florida and his grandparents, who already lived out of state, were suddenly further away. Rather than let the loneliness settle in, Roman started waving and saying ‘hey’ to anyone who walked past his house.
One neighbour, Wade Fulgum, noticed and walked over to introduce himself, and soon others followed. Roman began inviting them to his football, basketball and baseball games. People showed up to his swimming lessons and his pre-school open house too.
‘He loves having us there, and he’ll run up and hug us,’ one of his elderly neighbour friends said. His mother, Anna Butzlaff, added, ‘They’ve made such an impact on him. They are really special people to him.’
The Butzlaffs’ refrigerator is now covered in photos of the neighbours who have become Roman’s friends, a neighbourhood that came together because one toddler refused to stop waving hello.
Image: Wikimedia Commons/by Pink Sherbet Photography
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