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Teen, 'Grandma' spend Thanksgiving dinner together after mistaken invite

MESA, Ariz. - It all started with an accidental text message.Β 

<p>A grandma texted the wrong teen for Thanksgiving dinner. (Photo: Twitter screenshot)</p>

MESA, Ariz. - It all started with an accidental text message.

That led two virtual strangers -- a Mesa grandma and a Phoenix teen -- to spend part of Thanksgiving together.

Earlier this month, Wanda Dench somehow added Jamal Hinton, 17, to a text message thread inviting her family to dinner.

But even after Hinton and Dench figured out the mix up -- her invitation remained.

"I was totally embarrassed, and I didn't know what to say at first. So I thought for a minute and I said, 'Sure you can,' I said. 'That's what grandmas do, they feed everybody,'" Dench said.

The story went viral after Hinton tweeted screenshots of the conversation.

And his friend shared them.

The story spread far enough to get Stovetop's attention. The company tweeted that it was giving the pair a year's supply of stuffing for their party.

Hinton met Wanda for Thanksgiving Thursday before heading to his real grandma's house.

"I wanted to get to know him because I liked my first impression of him," Dench said.

It's a story of two people who otherwise would never have met -- coming together at a time when we could use a little more of that.

"People are saying, 'I have faith in humanity again.' And I'm just thinking, 'Wow!'" Dench said.

Dench said she's been overwhelmed by the response to this story, all because of simple mistaken text.

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