The older you get, they say, the harder it is to make friends.

Between family life, working and just dealing with the day-to-day moments that keep us busy, finding time for friends can be nearly impossible.

So when Jason Boudreaux was doing last-minute errands at a Louisiana grocery store, he wasn’t thinking about anything other than getting home and making the seafood and drinks he had bought for his family. As the cashier finished his order, he went to pay. 

Then his card was rejected, saying he had insufficient funds. Boudreaux had just deposited his work check on the way to the store, but apparently the funds hadn’t been posted to his account. 

As he was trying to decide if he should leave and come back later, he heard a voice behind him.

“I got you,” said Kevin Jones, 28.

“I told him, ‘Hey, what are you talking about? I can’t let you do that — that’s too much,” Boudreaux said to reporters. “But he insisted, and kept saying, ‘I got you.’ When I told him I would pay him back, he said, ‘No, you don’t have to.’”

Boudreaux, 46, asked Jones to take a picture with him.

I thought, ‘I need him to be recognized. Here’s this young fellow helping an old cowboy,’” he said.

After he got home, he made a Facebook post using the picture the two took. He asked if anyone knew Jones because he wanted to get in touch with him. One of his friends knew Jones, and gave Boudreaux his phone number.

“We call it ‘Family Day,’” he said. “We cook up some shrimp, some crawfish, some fried catfish, and invite a bunch of friends and cousins, people of all creeds and colors. Everyone is welcome.”

Jones came along with his wife, Marissa. During the visit, Marissa mentioned to Boudreaux’s wife, Erica, that it was Kevin’s birthday. “It turned out we had a lot to celebrate,” Jason said. “We decided to put something together in a rush.”

They took a jelly doughnut and put a candle in it. Giving it to Jones, everyone then sang ‘Happy Birthday’, he said.

“Everything aligned for Kevin to be there at that moment,” Boudreaux said. “We became instant friends.”

“Jason is a kindred spirit — you aren’t going to find many people like him,” he said. “It was like destiny that I was standing behind him that day. My mom taught me that. My attitude is, ‘If I’ve got it, you’ve got it.’ I’m happy to help.”

Jason Boudreaux, second from the left, and Kevin Jonas, middle, embrace at a family cookout. The two men became fast friends after a chance encounter at a grocery store. Photo by the Boudreaux family

Boudreaux, who is a former detective and patrol sergeant, said he had seen a lot of the worst in people during his previous job. Experiencing kindness from a stranger was such an amazing thing to see.

“It’s about doing the right thing, and Kevin did just that,” he said. “When he said, ‘I got you,’ I felt embarrassed and blessed at the same time. He’s an incredible young gentleman.”

Since the party, the two men use text to stay in touch, making more plans to hang out in the future. “He invites me to go to his fishing spot and every Sunday, he wants me to come over. The family wants to meet (my) kids and whatnot,” said Jones, who is also a father of three.

“I live by a motto: ‘If I got it, you got it,'” Jones said. “Doesn’t matter your color, doesn’t matter to me. We brothers and sisters from different people.”

@thatgoodnewsgirl Good news of the day: Kevin Jones from New Iberia, Louisiana pays for another man’s groceries and asks for nothing in return; wholesome friendship forms and the two get together with their families to celebrate Kevin’s birthday! 🥰 #newiberia #newiberialouisiana #louisiana #actofkindness #goodnews #positivenews #tiktoknews #la #newiberiala #actsofkindness #kindnessmatters #kindness ♬ original sound – jenn 💜 daily happy content 🥰

Sources: Washington Post | Today