CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — Mike Moffitt and Gladys Hankerson started off their friendship about 20 years ago in a very non-traditional way. It all started when Moffitt, who lives in Rhode Island, began receiving multiple phone calls from an older woman in Florida.

The older woman on the line was Hankerson, who had called Moffitt’s phone several times by accident. Hankerson was trying to reach her daughter, who lives in Maryland.

“I mean, you could just tell right away she wasn’t [in to] technology,” said Moffitt on “Morning in America.” “You know, I only had a cellphone for a couple of years. So I could tell she was struggling with it. So it’s just kind of just something you chuckle at.”

Moffitt said eventually the pair began holding conversations and they would call each other to just check in with one another.

“It was accidental. And then it just started being on purpose … and she was checking in,” said Moffitt.

The two stayed in touch over the phone for years. Moffitt said he had planned to meet Hankerson last year for Thanksgiving with his family, but things just didn’t work out.

“We had a layover in Florida and she was about 45 minutes away from the airport. It was just too tough to fit into the trip.”

That’s when Moffitt said he got in contact with Hankerson’s daughter. The two traded texts about Hankerson’s address last year. This year, the pair finally met in person when Moffitt was on a trip to Florida with his wife and children.

“We got rerouted from a bridge being up this year and checked my map and I’m like, we’re like two miles from our house. So I was like we’re just gonna stop by.”

Moffitt said Hankerson was shocked to see him at first, but she greeted him with open arms.

“It’s just big smiles. I think she was a little like, what, what are you doing here? We haven’t talked about it.”

After their meetup, Moffitt shared his photo with Hankerson in a Facebook post. Overall, Moffitt said meeting Hankerson was something he will never forget.

“It really opened my eyes. A lot of people have reached out and there, it’s just a lot of positive that people are looking for. So, for me, it was just an unintentional thing that happened.”