A grandmother has spent yet another Thanksgiving with the man she met after accidentally inviting him over for dinner four years ago.
Everything began when Wanda Dench accidentally invited 17-year-old student Jamal Hinton over for dinner on Thanksgiving four years ago.
As Dench explained, she was convinced she texted the right person until he replied to her with his picture and proved her wrong.
Despite not being her grandson, Jamal asked if he could join anyway. “Of course you can. That’s what grandmas do, feed everyone,” Dench allegedly replied.
Much to their amazement, it turned out that they were both living in neighboring cities in Arizona, making it easy for them to come through with the deal.
Since that day, the two have forged a bond and now spend each Thanksgiving in each other’s company. Last year, Jamal’s girlfriend Mikaela has also joined the pair for the celebration.
“She’s a great cook and she’s a great person to just hang out with. We don’t watch TV or anything. We just sit at the table for a couple of hours and talk the whole time and tell stories and see how we’ve been,” Jamal said in an interview with TIME.
“Time kind of just flies, we don’t even realize how long we’ve been there. They’re really good company.”
As for Mrs. Dench, she believes that “family is more than blood, it’s the people you want to be with.” For that reason, she has no problem including Jamal in her family on Thanksgiving.
As the now-21-year-old man added, he hopes to return the favor next year. “We wanted to host Thanksgiving but I think it’s basically impossible since we’re moving in the day before. Next year,” he said.
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Replaced!