22-Year-Old Boy and 81-Year-Old Who Became Friends by Playing Words With Friends Meet IRL

Spencer Sleyon is a 22-year-old rapper and producer. He moved to New York a few months ago in Silver Spring, Maryland, to pursue his musical career dreams. Last year, Spencer started playing the Words With Friends app. Around the month of July, he squeezed the game’s “Random” game option and teamed with an 81-year-old Florida woman named Rosalind, nicknamed Roz.

Spencer told BuzzFeed News that “he only played when he was bored”.
“I only played these games with Rosalind. Finally, we are starting to discuss the current events in 2016,” he said.

However, he quickly developed a great rivalry with Roz. They played several games at once and started chatting in the app. In one of his conversations, Spencer talked about Roz that he was considering moving to New-York to practice his rap career dreams. She encouraged him to go later, he said.

“Whatever you want, go ahead and take it,” he says and she tells him.

His words stayed with him. However, in December, Spencer was too busy with life and eliminated the game: she moved to New York and returned with an old high school girlfriend named Hannah.

One day he was at Hannah’s house and started to discuss his friendship with Roz. Hannah’s mother, Reverend Amy Butler, surprised the conversation and was immediately fascinated.

Butler, the premiere of Manhattan’s Riverside Church, told BuzzFeed News that his story caught him.

“I thought it would be nice to close the circle and make arrangements to meet in person,” she said. Spencer accepted and downloaded the app again to reconnect with his friend.

Then Butler made it possible. He teamed up with Roz and flew with Spencer to meet Roz in Florida. They were very happy to meet in person.
“It was really amazing, I did not think I knew her for the first time,” Spencer said.

The friends talked and they knew each other better. Butler said Roz even booked a special table in a restaurant for their living together. “She picked the table so Spencer can see the ocean,” Butler said.

Butler says she asked Roz why he chose to meet her, and he had a good answer. “You know that life is about taking risks, Spencer felt like a friend to me,” Roz said. Spencer said he did not tell many people that he would go to Florida because it was a long story. Then he decided to share it with all his subscribers on Twitter. People fell in love with the story and it became wild viral.

Spencer said that all the attention was crazy.”I did not expect that to happen,” he said. Butler said she believes the story has resonated because “we all strive for the connection between us and hope in those terrible times.”

“My job is to build a community that brings people together, and in our current political climate, I’m working against the tide,” she said. “I believe it an addition of my work.”And if you’re wondering, Spencer said he’s the clear winner of the rivalry. 
 

Check out our other content