A wrong number mishap has somehow turned into an annual Thanksgiving tradition between two people who formed an unlikely but lasting friendship.
According to People , Arizona-based grandmother Wanda Dench has spent yet another holiday with Jamal Hinton and his family for the fourth year in a row after accidentally inviting him to her own Thanksgiving dinner back in 2016.
Dench, now 62, was attempting to text her grandson to invite him to a turkey dinner at her home.
Unbeknownst to Dench, however, her grandson had switched his phone number, and her text messages ended up being sent to Hinton, who was a 17-year-old high school senior at the time.
After some initial confusion, the pair sent individual pictures proving there had definitely been some sort of a mistake.
Once that had all been cleared up, Hinton asked if he could still snag some delicious Thanksgiving food, prompting Dench to reply, “Of course you can. That’s what [grandmas] do… feed everyone.”
True to her word, Dench welcomed Hinton and his family into her home for dinner.
Unsurprisingly, the story was just so sweet that it touched everyone’s hearts and quickly went viral.
Hinton’s original Twitter post about the mix-up shared back in 2016 has over 128,000 likes and has been retweeted more than 43,000 times.
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That first meal has since turned into an annual tradition that’s lasted an incredible four years.
Every Thanksgiving, Hinton makes sure to document their coming-together and shares the photos on Twitter.
And every year without fail, fans of this story flock to his social media to get their annual heartwarming story of a pair of strangers brought together by a simple wrong number text.
Now, as the pair get ready to spend their fourth Thanksgiving together, it’s worth taking a look back at their beautiful, wholesome friendship.
After that first dinner, Dench said she and Hinton had immediate chemistry.
“I just clicked when I met him and first talked to him,” she told NBC News . “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I want to get to know this guy.'”
She added, “Family is more than blood. It’s the people you want to be with.”
As for Hinton, in 2016 he told People he thought Hinton was a “very sweet lady.”
Hinton says that Dench has always made him feel at home.
“It was so unexpected, but she was just so sweet about it,” he said of their surprise dinner. “It was a reminder that there are still some good people left in this world.”
On November 28, Dench joined Hinton at his girlfriend, Mikaela’s and Aunt Tauna’s house for dinner.
Hinton told Good Morning America he’s glad their tradition has continued.
“[Dench] is a realy good person,” he said. “I really enjoy the time I spend with her.”
And the feeling sure seems to be mutual, considering they’re getting together for a fourth year in a row.
And the fact that it’s not just Thanksgiving that they get together for anymore.
Hinton told the NY Post that although they live about an hour and a half apart, they try to connect for dinners when they can, and keep in touch via text — naturally.
This year, the pair decided to make a YouTube video together for all the people following along with their touching story.
You can check it out below!
h/t: People , NBC News , Good Morning America
