A text message sent to the wrong number brought an Arizona Woman and a then- 17-year-old teen together for Thanksgiving in 2016. Now, they are preparing for their fourth Thanksgiving together.
Wanda Dench sent a text message to who she thought was her grandson to let him know what the festivities began and adding, “Hope to see you all. Of course that includes Amanda & Justin.” Little did she know her grandson had changed his number and didn’t tell her.
Jamal Hinton saw the unfamiliar number and asked who was texting him. Dench replied, “Your grandma.”
The two began exchanging selfies to confirm who they were. Hinton texted Dench, “You not my grandma. Can I still get a plate tho?”
“Of course you can,” Denton texted back. “That’s what grandma’s do … feed every one.”
Since that friendly exchange of text messages in 2016, they are preparing for their fourth one together but with Hinton’s girlfriend’s family.
Many have asked Dench why she invited someone she didn’t know to her home for the holidays. She responded with, ““We moved around a lot so I was always going to new places, and so strangers were not strangers to me,” she said. “Because we were in the military, and on bases, there was always a lot of people that didn’t have family around and didn’t know each other. For us to open our door to strangers was easy, it was a normal thing to us.”
