MESA, Ariz. — Thanksgiving is usually a time to reflect on the things in our lives that often get overlooked and underappreciated.
Good health, access to food and having a place to live are among some of the mentions of family members around the dinner table on the holiday.
But for two Mesa residents, the holiday reaffirms the commitment they've made to each other, and the spontaneous friendship that spawned from a wrong-number text.
Wanda Dench and Jamal Hinton are planning their seventh Thanksgiving together, a tradition dating back to 2016 when Wanda mistakenly texted Jamal thinking he was one of her grandchildren. Despite learning Jamal wasn't who she thought, Wanda still opened up her home to Jamal on the holiday.
He accepted, and a viral Twitter post with screenshots of the text messages threw the two into internet stardom and an everlasting friendship.
"I told her the cameras and the fame, everything could stop tomorrow, and nothing’s changing between us," Hinton said on an interview with TODAY.
"Absolutely," Dench said in the interview. "He's in my heart for life."
The two have been busy doing things other than planning Thanksgiving, including working with Netflix on an upcoming movie about their friendship.
Although, when TODAY asked them about it, Dench said that they "weren't allowed to talk about it."
One of the things Dench was able to speak about was how Jamal recently guided her through the process of getting her first tattoo.
"Got my first tattoo at age 65," Dench said on her Instagram page. "3 shooting stars-one for my husband, mother and father. My guardian angels."
We ❤ Arizona
Explore amAZing people, places and things across our state on our 12News YouTube playlist here.