Their friendship is sweeter than pumpkin pie — even 10 years later!
An Arizona grandmother who went viral for inviting a teenage stranger to Thanksgiving dinner will celebrate her 10th holiday feast Thursday with the young man — who she now considers chosen family, she said.
“There was no generation gap at all… like we were just like pals for forever,” Wanda Dench, 68, of Mesa, told the Today Show this week.“That grew into family and love, and I feel so blessed.”
Dench didn’t know her grandson had changed his cellphone number when she accidentally sent the invite via a group text to Jamal Hinton’s phone in November 2016.
The then-17-year-old, who lived 45 minutes away, replied with a laughing emoji saying, “You not my grandma. Can I still get a plate though?”
“Of course you can. That’s what grandmas do … feed everyone,” she wrote back, prompting the internet to go wild for the pair’s unlikely friendship.
Hinton, who is now 26, took her up on the Turkey Day dinner — and has every year since, he told The Today Show.
“It’s just amazing to sit back and think that one mistaken text led to so many people’s happiness and joy,” Hinton said.
The touching odd couple now takes turns hosting Thanksgiving dinner, including last year at Hinton’s aunt’s house in Phoenix.
They have celebrated Thanksgiving through the death of Dench’s late husband, Lonnie, of COVID-19 complications in 2020, and her breast cancer diagnosis.
The first year, Dench said, she had so many members of the media at her house she didn’t actually get to know Hinton very well.
“We had more media people at my house than we had family members,” said Dench.
So she and Lonnie invited him and his then-girlfriend to dinner at a restaurant a couple months later and had a blast.
“There wasn’t ever an awkward moment,” says Hinton, adding they chatted until the restaurant closed.
“Thanksgiving is the only time we don’t get to have really great conversations with each other because we’re always interviewing!” she said.
Dench said she’s now cancer-free as of her last check-up and thrilled to spend another Thanksgiving with Hinton.
“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,” Hinton said.
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