Early this morning, Jen Deaderick got a text from a woman named Opal who "sang" her a Happy Birthday.
The problem was, it's not Deaderick's birthday and she doesn't know Opal. Opal had intended to text her granddaughter Samiya. So Deaderick politely told her that she had the wrong number.
Opal responded with "Sorry. Have a blessed day." While many people may have left the conversation at that, Deaderick felt that Opal deserved more.
"She had put so much effort into the message, with all those emojis, I wanted her to know how cool it was," she tells Refinery29. "And I didn't want her to feel too embarrassed about sending to the wrong person."
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So she decided to share a little more about herself, and tell Opal how grateful she was to have gotten the message — even though it was for the wrong person.
"I wish my Nana was still around to send me great texts like this," she wrote. "You've already given me a blessed day."
The conversation could have easily ended again at this point, but Opal — who seems to inspirit everything that is sweet and good about grandmas — offered to be Deaderick's surrogate Nana, and to send her texts on her birthday.
"Jen, I'd be happy to send this on your birthday on behalf of your Nana," she wrote. "We are part of one big family!"
Deaderick accepted and Opal immediately put her birthday into her phone's calendar.
Since it was just Mother's Day, Deaderick had a photo in her phone of herself as a baby with her mom, grandmother, and great-grandmother, which she had used as a temporary Facebook photo on Sunday, she tells us.
She shared the photo with Opal so she would "know who you're texting for."
Opal responded with a photo of her family, including her granddaughter, Samiya, for whom the original message was meant.
Samiya, who is in the front of the photo, turned 12 today, Opal told Deaderick, who has a daughter who is also 12.
Their spontaneous morning conversation only ended when Opal said that she had to get ready for work, though she promised to "check in on" Deaderick later. She signed her last text, "Love your adopted Nana Opal."
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Deaderick wrote about the exchange on Twitter in a series of tweets marveling at the idea that there really are still good people in the world.
The other person's Nana just offered to sent ME texts on my birthday in honor of my own late Nana. People are not terrible.
— ❄️Jen Deaderick ❄️ (@jendeaderick) May 17, 2017
The other Nana and I are exchanging family photos now.
— ❄️Jen Deaderick ❄️ (@jendeaderick) May 17, 2017
It should probably be noted that my new Nana Opal is probably only a little over a decade older than me. But we can work with that.
— ❄️Jen Deaderick ❄️ (@jendeaderick) May 17, 2017
And we can only hope that this cute and unexpected exchange develops into a true friendship for these women. But Deaderick's birthday is coming up in two months (it's July 3) and at the very least, we fully expect she'll get a sweet message with lots of emojis from her new adopted Nana Opal.
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