Arizona Man & Grandma Who Mistakenly Texted Him Dinner Invite Miss Spending Thanksgiving Together For The First Time Since 2016

Thanksgiving looked a little different this year. If you're like me, every year you wait patiently for Thanksgiving updates on Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench. The unlikely friends went viral back in 2016 when Dench sent a text to her grandkids inviting them to Thanksgiving dinner. But one of her grandsons had recently changed his number, so her invitation went to a then-17-year old named Jamal Hinton instead. After they sorted out the mixup, Hinton had a question for Wanda: "Can I still get a plate tho?" Dench stood by her invitation, telling Hinton that "that's what grandma's do...feed every one." https://twitter.com/Jamalhinton12/status/798646484438687744?s=20 And sure enough, Hinton spent Thanksgiving day with Dench and her husband Lonnie - and the tradition has continued ever since. https://twitter.com/Jamalhinton12/status/1200212200331325441 Unfortunately, Lonnie passed away back in 2020 due to COVID, but for the past eight years, the group has spent Thanksgiving together at Dench's home - and they remain close friends throughout the rest of the year too. https://twitter.com/Jamalhinton12/status/1660774292953649153 But this year, Thanksgiving looked a little different for both of them. Earlier this year, Dench revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and would be undergoing chemotherapy. So when Thanksgiving rolled around, she felt that it was best that she not make the two hour drive to Hinton's and instead stay home and rest up: “I just recently finished up with chemotherapy, so I’m not 100% yet. And I live about two hours away from where Jamal lives. And so we decided that this year would be best for my health if I stayed at home.” This was supposed to be the first year that Hinton hosted Thanksgiving dinner, and Dench said she was looking forward to meeting his family. But she still plans to be a part of their annual tradition, and says things will go back to normal next year: “We will FaceTime with each other. I was looking so forward to meeting his family and having turkey with everybody, but we have to accept things the way they are, and I’m sure next year is going to be so much better.” And Hinton admitted that things didn't go as planned, but that they're looking forward to Wanda making a recovery and getting back to their annual tradition in person. https://twitter.com/Jamalhinton12/status/1862352236103258304 This has become one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions to follow, because so often these feel-good stories end up not being what they seem. But this one is just two strangers who met because of a wrong number text, and have become a second family to each other through good times and bad. As one commenter pointed out, this was the first time that Hinton would be hosting after Dench had taken care of him for all those years, so it was heartwarming to see the man continue to take care of her now that she needs help. And hopefully this year turns out to be just a bump in the road, and the two can get back to their annual tradition soon. The world needs more stories like these, of strangers becoming family, so it's safe to say everybody's rooting for them to be able to reunite in year 10.