New York City is full of people doing extraordinarily quirky things, which this story only serves as further support of. Last week, a story went viral about Spencer, who is 22 and lives in Harlem, and his online friend Roz, who is 86 and lives in a retirement home in Florida. These two lead incredibly different lives, but their paths crossed when they both started playing the online game Words With Friends well over a year ago.
I heard Pastor Amy Butler, the Senior Minister of Riverside Church in New York City, share this story and it moved me to tears. Spencer is a friend of her daughter’s, and Pastor Amy helped orchestrate the meeting between the two after the story caught her attention. She flew down to Florida with Spencer to meet Roz, and the two shared a heartwarming afternoon together in West Palm Beach.
After Spencer shared the story with photos of his encounter on Twitter, over a million people liked the post, leading to headlines in multiple news outlets including the Miami Herald and Daily Mail. Even the Words With Friends Twitter account posted about it multiple times!
Stories like this remind us that seemingly small things, like friendships and human connections, actually have massive impacts in our lives. We long to connect with other people, no matter how similar or different they may be from us, because our lives are meant to be filled with joy.
[Feature and Secondary Images Courtesy of Rev. Dr. Amy Butler]