Grandmother and teen who met accidentally by text will celebrate Thanksgiving together again

Five years after an accidental text brought them together, the friendship between Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench is still going strong.

In 2016, Dench sent a text to Hinton about Thanksgiving dinner, thinking she was messaging her grandson. Hinton responded that while she wasn't his grandmother, he'd love to "still get a plate." Dench quickly replied, "Of course you can. That's what grandmas do ... feed everyone." That year — and every year since — Hinton and Dench have celebrated Thanksgiving together, with various members of their families and Hinton's girlfriend Mikaela also joining in.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.