By Michaela Gordoni
It never gets old. Wanda Dench, who accidentally texted the wrong number in 2016, is still meeting Jamal Hinton for Thanksgiving every year.
“Ninety percent of me already knew it wasn’t my grandmother,” recalled Hinton, who received a group text inviting him to Thanksgiving dinner. He asked the sender, who said she was his grandma, for a photo. When he saw her photo, he playfully sent one back, showing that he wasn’t her grandson.
“Can I still get a plate tho?” he joked.
“Of course,” she replied, “That’s what grandmas do. They feed everyone.”
So Hinton showed up for dinner, and the interaction went viral.
“I was 17 at the time,” recalled Hinton, “and it was scary, because it was about a 45 minute drive away from my house. I didn’t know Wanda, obviously, or her family.”
“All doubts of her maybe being a serial killer just went away the second I saw her face,” he laughed.
All of the media were there.
“We had more media people at my house than we had family members,” said Dench of that first year.
So she invited Hinton for dinner for New Year’s.
“There wasn’t ever an awkward moment,” said Hinton. They talked for hours.
“I felt like there was no generation gap at all,” Dench added, “like we were just like pals for forever…and that grew into family and love, and I feel so blessed.”
They’ve stayed great friends for nine years now. Hinton’s been there through Dench’s husband’s passing and her battle with breast cancer, TODAY reported.
“Thanksgiving is the only time we don’t get to have really great conversations with each other because we’re always interviewing!” Dench joked.
They take turns on who will host each Thanksgiving each year. This year, their tenth Thanksgiving together, is sponsored by Green Giant. The company provided them with an entire meal.
“Ten Thanksgivings ago, a simple text brought us together. This year, we’re celebrating a decade of friendship,” Hinton wrote on Instagram.
Hinton says his favorite Thanksgiving food is the mashed potatoes.
“You take the mashed potatoes, take the gravy,” he said. “You put the gravy on the mashed potatoes, and then you grab your dinner roll, and you grab your spoon, and you kind of, like, spoon the mashed potatoes on the dinner roll and take the bite with a little bit of turkey, and it’s amazing.”
“It was an easy decision to partner with Green Giant because I grew up with them, and Jamal did, too,” Dench said. “Who doesn’t have green bean casserole for Thanksgiving every year? It just felt good.”
Dench says she is now cancer-free and hopes their friendship inspires others and reminds people how awesome Thanksgiving can be: that it’s all about good food and family and loved ones and getting together with conversation.”
Hinton said, “We got to actually inspire people, and that’s all I want to — inspire people to do better, or to step out of your comfort zone and try something new. It’s just amazing to sit back and think that one mistaken text led to so many people’s happiness and joy.”
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