Dialing a wrong number can be really awkward. There are now two people in a surprise conversation who are both looking for the fastest way to exit. The resulting twenty seconds is basically torture. For one woman, however, a misdialed phone number ended up giving her one of the best friends she’s ever had.
Gladys Hankerson made a phone call twenty years ago that would change her life.
Hankerson decided she was going to call her sister in Maryland nearly two decades ago. Everything seemed normal until someone picked up the phone who was definitely NOT her sister! As many have done before, Hankerson had accidentally put in the wrong number and a man from Rhode Island had answered.
Most people would have just hung up, but what happened next spurred a lifelong friendship.
As most people would, Hankerson was shocked when she heard a mans voice on the other line:
“At first, it was just like her saying, ‘Oh I’m sorry!’ and she’s really Southern, very hospitable, polite, very sweet, she’s like, ‘I’m so sorry, child!’ and then she hangs up real quick,” – TODAY
The man who answered was Mike Moffitt, a 46-year-old man who lives in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. When the two realized it was a misdial, they ended the call.
…until Hankerson “accidentally” called again!
Whether she was misremembering her sister’s phone number or calling Moffitt intentionally, we may never know. What we DO know is that she called Moffitt a few more times before he started asking her how she was doing that day, just to be friendly.
“It was at first her misdialing,” Moffitt said. “Then I think she just started calling, not misdialing.”
Soon, the calls became routine and the misdials turned into check-ups.
They eventually started talking about their kids, the things going on in their lives, and more. For the 80-year-old Hankerson, it was a breath of fresh air to have a friend. They talked to much that she would always inform Moffitt of the big things in her life, even if she couldn’t make the call herself.
“She had her son call at one time to let me know that somebody close to her passed away. He was like, ‘My mom just wanted me to call and let you know,’” Moffit said. “All of a sudden [our relationship] became not like a superficial check-in call … I understood what it meant to her.”
Finally, years later, Moffitt surprised her.
A few weeks ago the two friends met for the very first time. Moffitt and his family were going to Florida for vacation and decided to stop by her house. When he finally knocked on the door and she answered, she was stunned.
“I said, ‘Mike!’ I froze,” she said. “He made my day. Yes, yes. I hugged him, he hugged me and we took a picture.”
After taking the picture, Moffitt posted it to Facebook. As you can imagine, it got quite a bit of traction as people loved to see the reunion. As Moffitt said in the post:
“There are incredible people in this world that are a wrong number phone call away.”
Check out the video below!
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