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Grandma’s Wrong Text Shares Thanksgiving Spirit

A grandmother extends a Thanksgiving invitation to a stranger.

Grandma texting.
Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

The past few months might have highlighted all the divides that exist in this country, but a story out of Arizona last week proves that with the holiday of Thanksgiving upon us, human kindness and a little bit of “mysterious ways” still have the power to bring us together.

According to ABC 15 News, 17-year-old Jamal Hinton of Chandler, Arizona was in class when he received a text message from a number he didn’t recognize. “Thanksgiving Dinner is at my house on November 24, at 3:00pm. Let me know if you’re coming…”

“Who is this?” Jamal typed back.

“Your grandma,” the texter responded. Jamal asked for a selfie. The texter obliged.

She definitely wasn’t his grandma.

It could have ended there, but Jamal jokingly asked if he was still invited. The woman responded that of course he was, “That’s what grandmas do… feed every one.”

A friend of Jamal’s posted the exchange on Twitter, and it quickly went viral. In fact, the woman was flooded with phone calls from others asking if they could come for turkey (Jamal’s friend didn’t remove the phone number before posting online).

Despite the crush of attention, the woman stuck to her offer. Hinton told The Huffington Post that the woman’s name is Wanda, and he was definitely going over her place in Mesa, Arizona for the holiday—and bringing a pumpkin pie.

It’s not the first time at Mysterious Ways that we’ve heard about a wrong number or wrong message leading to wonderful results. Whether it’s a late-night misdial that provided comforta wrong email address that led to true love, or a misdirected fax that lifted a lonely lady’s spirits,  sometimes we have to wonder—was it a mistake, or meant-to-be?

You tell us—when has a wrong number turned out to be just right? Has a message for someone else reached someone who needed that message more? What odd circumstances brought a stranger to your Thanksgiving? Share your stories with us.

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