It’s not everyday an elderly woman rings your doorbell in the middle of the night.

Yet that’s exactly what happened to one man and his family in Chicago. When they answered the door, the woman – a neighbor – asked them to turn off their lights, claiming that they were disturbing her.

“When I open the door, she starts yelling aggressively. That’s just unacceptable,” the homeowner explained.

As stated, the elderly woman appeared agitated when she knocked on the door, stating in no uncertain terms that she was there to complain about the family’s garden lights. The lights were making it impossible for her to sleep, she said, though the man was of the opinion that this could not be the case: the lights were hanging too low to disturb her.

It’s only natural that in such a situation – taking into account that this occurred during the middle of the night – tempers can flare, and it wasn’t long before the man grew angry himself at having been woken.

As a result, he decided to call the police.

When the authorities arrived, they had a look around and agreed that the garden lights couldn’t possibly be affecting the angry neighbor.

The man then informed them that she had been complaining about a number of different things over the years, and often aired her grievances in the middle of the night.

Needless to say, the man was annoyed by his neighbor’s actions, and it can safely be assumed that he was of a mind to put a stop to them.

Yet it’s the manner in which he went about it that saw his story shoot to viral fame online.

As per reports, some time after the initial police visit the woman turned up again. Once again, it was the middle of the night, and once again she was visibly distressed when the man answered the door.

This time, however, instead of engaging in an argument with her, the man decided to take a different approach.

Upon being asked if he could turn off his lights, he agreed. When met with kindness and understanding, the woman’s own demeanor changed.

Not only that, but the man realized that she must be lonely, and so invited her over to dinner with his family one day. She instantly became more receptive, more reasonable, and explained that she liked having the man and his family as neighbors.

It turned out what she wanted more than anything was to have someone to talk to.

In the video below, you can see the touching incident recorded via the man’s surveillance camera: