4-year-old befriends elderly man in grocery store and they've become like family

(INSIDE EDITION) - One little girl may have just gained a best friend, who happens to be much older than her.

When Tara Wood's 4-year-old daughter Norah stopped to talk to a stranger in the grocery store, she could have never imagined the man would become like family.

Woods and little Norah were in the store getting cupcakes for her birthday when Norah spotted an elderly man and wanted to talk with him.

"We were heading towards the front and I stopped at a clearance shelf and this man was walking by and she stood up and waved and said 'Hi old person, it's my birthday'," Wood told InsideEdition.com.

Wood said him and Norah had a brief exchange and had already split up when Norah asked her mom to take a picture with "Mr. Dan" for her birthday.

"I said we can ask him. So we found him and asked him. He took a step back and put his hand on his checked and looked surprised, excited and touched," said Wood. "Dan and I talked for a minute and she was holding his hand. She kissed his hand. They hugged each other and I snapped a couple of photos."

Wood said Mr. Dan told Norah thank you, saying 'you've made me the happiest I've been in a long time."

Wood later posted about the special moment on her Facebook writer page because she said it was so sweet and impromptu.

"We passed several others but she zeroed in on him for some reason. I don't know if it was God or the universe. She knew he needed something," she said.

Later that evening a local reader recognized Dan from the pictures on Wood's Facebook page and private messaged her telling her that his wife died in March and he'd been living alone and had been sad for a while.

She told Wood that was the happiest she'd seen him since then, Wood said.

"I asked her if she thought it would be okay if I called him. She said he'd probably like that a lot," said Wood. "A couple of days later I called and he started crying on the phone. We were all crying."

And Mr. Dan has quickly become part of their lives. After taking him to lunch the following week with Norah, the two buds have become close.

"We spent three hours with him that first that day. They acted like they had known each other their whole lives," said Wood. "I couldn't let it end there. I thought a continued relationship would be beneficial for both of them."

Now Norah sees Mr. Dan once a week and calls him on the phone as well.

"She just turned four and she's incredibly thoughtful," said Wood. "She cares deeply about him and his well-being and that's something I couldn't teach."