I (29M) am falling in love with my neighbor (62F)

Yes, I know how that sounds.

She is, without a doubt, one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and we’ve known each other for just over a year now. Since we’ve first met she has been going out of her way to offer me help, ask if I’m doing okay, listens to me when I want to talk about anything, gives me sincere compliments, always seems interested and eager to hear about how my life is going. I’ll admit the past few years have been one big struggle for me, and the length of time we’ve known each other has been a massive improvement for me. She’s driven me to important health appointments, she’s offered to help me clean my home when I was so depressed even doing dishes was a struggle, she’s been a huge support system for me in the body of one beautiful woman. And I do think she’s beautiful, both inside and out.

But, obviously, she’s also old enough to be my mother. In fact, she’s literally the same age as my mother. And aside from that, she has some very serious health concerns (the big C) that are obviously much more important than my little crush. And aside from that, her family recently had a huge crisis. I would rather not get into it, but it’s been weighing heavily on her. I don’t think I’ll ever tell her about these feelings I have for her, because I don’t want to cause her any more stress. She doesn’t deserve that.

I’ll admit, I do linger a bit when we hug. She’s told me she really likes my hugs, she’ll often come up and ask for one if we catch each other outside. She says I’m handsome, complimented my progress in the gym, tells me I’m a kind soul and she’s so lucky to have me as her friend. She even said she’d like to meet my mother one day, to thank her for raising me. I don’t think I’m anything remarkable really, but she makes me feel like I am.

I’ll keep being her friend, and keep those feelings of mine locked away. I know it’s not meant to be, and I’m a fool for having these feelings in the first place. Maybe in another life we’ll meet again.

EDIT: Thought I should mention, she is single. I’m not sure what happened of her husband (she does have children who have moved out), and I never asked. She has only mentioned him one time in all my time knowing her.