Gladys Hankerson had a very common experience over 20 years ago now. She was trying to call her sister in Maryland and ended up dialing the wrong number.
In most instances, these encounters tend to come and go pretty quickly. She meant to dial her family member in the 410 area code but she called someone who resided in the 401 instead. What happened from there is pretty amazing.
She was connected to a new friend! from Rhode Island was more than happy to take the call and now the two are the best of friends. “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,” Moffitt remembers in the interview below.
This was not the first time that she dialed the wrong number. Hankerson, who resides in Delray, Florida, told Mike about her problem. It was not long before they spoke again. “I told him, ‘I’m sorry I was trying to call my sister,’ and he said, ‘This is Mike,’” Hankerson said. “I said my son passed away and he said I’m so sorry and he talked real nice to me and I talked real nice to him, and after that I had his phone number and I put it down on paper and I always called him,” says Gladys.
Her talks with Mike always lifted her spirits. She was going through a rough patch with the loss of her son and his kind words made a world of difference. The two would talk about their children, as Gladys is a mother of 10 and Mike is a father of 3. “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 says.
“All of a sudden [our relationship] became not like a superficial check-in call … I understood what it meant to her.” Last week, they were finally able to meet in person. It was a special moment for the two of them. “Oh it was such a great day, that was the happiest Thanksgiving there was, that made my day,” Gladys said. “I wish more people could be like that, you know? That would be so nice, the world would be better too, people would be better.”
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10157330524164649&set=a.10150130607019649
Mike shared a photo of their meeting on Facebook with a very special caption: “There are incredible people in this world that are a wrong number phone call away.”
Watch the interview below to see more of Mike and Gladys: