Stranger helps widower honour his late wife in the sweetest way

When Gregory Johnson saw a big bouquet of roses and a birthday cake in an elderly man's shopping trolley, he assumed he had party plans for that evening.

The response he got from the man, however, wasn't one he wasn't expecting. 

According to the Good News Network, Gregory posted to Facebook about the meeting.

He wrote that, ''he [the man] had a dozen roses and a big birthday cake in his cart. I made the comment, ‘it looks like you’ve got a big night planned.’ He glanced up at me with the saddest eyes I believe I’ve ever seen and told me his story.”

Cue our hearts breaking for this old man.

The man, Jim, explained that his wife Gloria had died five years ago, so every year on her birthday he put out roses for her on the kitchen table and cuts two slices of cake for them both. 

Gregory spoke to CBS News about what he did next for Jim. 

“My heart just broke. I was just devastated and he looked completely broken. And I knew that I wanted to do whatever I could in that moment to take his mind off of his heartbreak. So I starting asking him questions about their life together and I believe his reminiscing made him feel better.”

Jim and Gloria met in high school when she was a cheerleader for his rival basketball team and they had been together since then – 53 years! 

After chatting for over an hour, the manager of the store came over and said he he had been taking pictures of Jim every year with his flowers – so he took a photo of teh two men together. 

Gregory ended up going back to Jim's home in Greenwood, Indiana to celebrate Gloria’s birthday with him. 

“Hopefully I made that little old man’s night a tad bit better,” Gregory said, “because he certainly made mine one of the best I’ve had in a long time.”

Here's hoping that this special friendship continues to blossom!