Grandma's Accidental Text with a Stranger Started a Thanksgiving Tradition that Endures for 6th Straight Years

The Internet is still swooning over their feel-good friendship

After 6 years, a grandma and a stranger still celebrate the holiday together

A heartwarming accident

What started as a text to a wrong number has led to years of friendship and shared Thanksgiving meals for Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench, a holiday tradition born from a happy mistake that’s gone viral every year since.

In 2016, Dench sent a text to a number she believed belonged to her grandson to invite him to Thanksgiving dinner at her home in Mesa, Arizona. Turns out, she accidentally texted Hinton, a complete stranger at the time.

When Hinton asked who it was, Dench responded: “Your grandma.” “Grandma? Can I have a picture?” he replied. He received a selfie of her whom he had never seen before. He wrote back, “You, not my grandma,” adding a laughing emoji. Still playing along, he jokingly asked: “Can I still get a plate tho?” “Of course. That’s what grandma does … feed everyone,” Dench replied.

Hinton soon realized her mistaken invitation had turned genuine, and he decided to take Dench up on her offer. He went to her home about a 25-minute drive from his house south of Phoenix, for a Thanksgiving meal with her family.

After he posted their text interaction on Twitter in 2016, the heartwarming story went viral, he confirmed via social media that the duo spent time in Thanksgiving together again in 2021.

“We are all set for year 6!” Hinton posted on Twitter, along with a screenshot of a text message from Dench — whose name on his cellphone is “Grandma Wanda” — inviting him, his girlfriend, and his family over to her house for Thanksgiving.

“For him to continue with the relationship, I’m just really pleasantly surprised,” Dench said in 2017. “We’re more of extended family and, best of all, friends.”

Though, the 2020 holiday reunion was bittersweet. Dench’s husband of 42 years, Lonnie Dench, who enthusiastically participated in their Thanksgiving tradition, died of covid-19 complications in April.

Dench described her husband as “her hero,” who “did so many acts of kindness that no one ever heard about.” After his death, Hinton, who had grown fond of Lonnie Dench over the years, tweeted, “We miss you, Lonnie,” along with a video of them together.

Despite the sudden loss, Dench and Hinton decided to still celebrate their fifth Thanksgiving together. “I wasn’t looking forward to it at first, because Lonnie wasn’t going to be there,” Dench said. Hinton also had mixed feelings before the meal: “Thanksgiving isn’t going to be the same anymore, but we will make the best of it,” he tweeted.

Although there was a void without her husband, Dench said, she was grateful to have her chosen family by her side: “I don’t have my beloved Lonnie with me, but I will be with family I love dearly,” she wrote in a tweet, sharing a photo of her family, along with Hinton and his girlfriend.

Viral Mesa pair celebrating Thanksgiving for 6th year straight after accidental text message

During the meal, they kept a framed photo of Lonnie Dench at the head of the table, next to a candle.

Although Dench was initially embarrassed about the misdirected text in 2016, she said, both she and Hinton feel very thankful that it happened. “Family is more than blood,” Dench said. “It’s the people you want to be with.”

“Time kind of just flies. We don’t even realize how long we’ve been there. They’re really good company,” Hinton said.

Hinton chronicles their friendship on social media and has more than 111,000 Twitter followers, who keenly countdown to each November when he shares his annual Thanksgiving selfie with Dench.

Sources: