Grandma's accidental text turns into sweet Thanksgiving tradition
Sometimes the best people to spend the holiday with are the ones accidentally brought together via text message. At least, that's the case for Wanda Dench and Jamal Hinton.
Remember the grandma who accidentally texted a Thanksgiving invitation to the wrong number? And then, the owner of said wrong number actually showed up? Well, they didn't forget, and the pair reunited this holiday. This time, Hinton even brought a girlfriend, according to The Arizona Republic.
"We got to laugh about last year and reminisce about how it all blew up on our phone and how I had to change my number. We had a laugh and a good time," Dench told The Arizona Republic.
As a brief refresher: the saga all began on Nov. 15, 2016 with a text from Dench to Hinton. It was intended as a group text to a few family members, but one of her grandsons had changed his number about six months back and had neglected to tell his grandmother. Hinton, a 17-year-old high school student, was its new lucky owner.
The text exchange, shared on Twitter, spread virally. Despite Hinton not being the intended recipient of the invite, Dench did say he could come over. "That's what grandma's do ... feed every one," she texted at the time.
Hinton did come over last year:
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And they actually have stayed close after that first meeting. The two chat about once a week, according to The Arizona Republic. She reportedly asks about his future plans, including law school and a goal to become a sports agent
"We're more of extended family and, best of all, friends," Dench told The Arizona Republic.
Hinton now has a "standing invitation" for every Thanksgiving here on out.
Kerry Flynn is a business reporter for Mashable covering the tech industry. She previously reported on social media companies, mobile apps and startups for International Business Times. She has also written for The Huffington Post, Forbes and Money magazine. Kerry studied environmental science and economics at Harvard College, where she led The Harvard Crimson's metro news and design teams and played mellophone in the Band. When not listening to startup pitches, she runs half-marathons, plays with puppies and pretends to like craft beer.
