He wanted to invite his grandson to Thanksgiving dinner, but another young man got the message. This year they will celebrate their sixth Thanksgiving together.
A wrong text message was the key to that two people will meet and create a friendship which has already lasted for several years.
In 2016, Wanda Dench, now 64 years old, texted his grandson inviting him to dinner for Thanksgiving, however, his grandson had changed his number and the recipient of the message was Jamal Hinton, who is now 22 years old.
Dench had written to his grandson the following: Thanksgiving dinner at my house, November 24, at 3:00 p.m. Let me know if you will come. I hope to see you all. Of course that includes Amanda and Justin. Hinton surprised he asked who the sender of the message was and even asked for a photo.
The woman replied that it was her grandmother and without hesitation she sent her a selfie. The young man replied with another selfie so Dench knew it wasn’t his grandson, but he also asked her if she could still attend dinner despite that. Her response was creative, kind and the definitive step for the beginning of their friendship: Of course you can. That’s what grandmothers do … feed everyone.
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The young man, who was 17 years old at the time, attended the dinner and recently shared on his social networks the invitation to come and share Thanksgiving Day with the family of Wanda Dench for the sixth consecutive year, in Arizona, United States.
“We are ready for the sixth year!”, Hinton tweeted last Sunday and shared a screenshot of a text message from Dench inviting him, his girlfriend Mikaela and their family for Thanksgiving once again.
The young man also shared a photo of himself, Dench, Mikaela and Dench’s late husband, Lonnie, who died in April 2020 after suffering from COVID-19.
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“(Wanda) is a really good person”, Hinton told the TV show Good Morning America, in 2019. “I really enjoy the time I spend with her,” he added.
Hinton also told the magazine People to get to have this tradition “It was so unexpected, but she was so sweet about it.”
“It was a reminder that there are still some good people left in this world,” he added of Dench. “She is a very sweet woman, she told me that her husband was a war veteran and that She always invited her friends to dinner, so she is used to receiving a lot of people. I got a vibe from her that made me feel at home, “he said.
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Despite 2020 it was a very sad year for Dench because she lost her husband, she did not stop celebrating her traditional dinner and likewise invited Hinton and Mikaela to join.
As in previous years, Dench and Hinton took a picture together that day, but they included a painting with a photograph of Lonnie to remember and honor him.
“This Thanksgiving, along with all the upcoming holidays, will not be the same as before, but we will make the most of it,” Hinton wrote in an Instagram post. “Rest in peace Lonnie and everyone else we lost this year, we will miss them so much. Thank you for being in our lives ”. (I)
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
