Wife was worried about his Facebook Marketplace meetup with a stranger — until he sent photo that made her burst out laughing
As an adult, making new friends can feel difficult. The usual childhood avenues — meeting people on playgrounds, group projects, or classrooms — no longer apply to adult lives. Most days, we just juggle between home and work, as part of a vicious loop. Yet friendships can show up in the funniest and most unexpected ways: at the gym, at a grocery checkout, through kids' parents, and sometimes even through absolutely bizarre incidents. Every now and then, a story surfaces to remind us that connection really can appear anywhere, including during the world’s simplest chores. This is exactly how two husbands, sent out on errands by their wives, ended up meeting and becoming unexpected best friends. Their conversation, posted to Reddit on November 18, has garnered 74,000 likes so far.
The story began when a woman shared a post on social media revealing how the unlikeliest of meetings can lead to the best of friendships. She wanted to buy a lamp she had spotted on Facebook Marketplace, but was unsure about the idea of meeting someone she had only spoken to online and barely knew. “Sent my husband to pick up a lamp I bought on FB Marketplace because I was scared of getting kidnapped."
After her husband left, an hour slipped by without notice. Responding to her own anxiety, the woman checked the location of her husband’s phone to gain clarity on his whereabouts. His phone's pin showed up at a spot called 'Buffalo Wild Wings', a diner. Confused and a little alarmed, she messaged him immediately: "Why does your location say you're at Buffalo Wild Wings? Did you get the lamp?" What came back was totally unexpected yet humorous. Her husband had collected the lamp, but he wasn’t the only one running an errand for his wife. The seller, it turned out, was equally worried about meeting a stranger from the internet. She had also sent her husband, assuming the buyer might be a man trying to kidnap her.
So two cautious spouses, both sent by their wives, got into easy conversation. One thing led to another: a love for the Seattle Seahawks, a cold beer, and soon their accidental meeting turned into an impromptu hangout. The men grabbed a couple of drinks, talked football, and decided to stay for the game before heading home. By the time the wives received updates, their husbands were already bonding like long-lost friends. Richard V. Reeves, the founding president of the American Institute for Boys and Men (AIBM), writes: "The decline in the share of men in college, in the labor force, and in churches augurs ill for the future of male friendships. It represents a deinstitutionalization of male friendship." He cited the work of Daniel Cox, who concluded, "Societal expectations for men are changing rapidly.
We expect more from men as husbands, partners, and fathers than we once did. Men are meant to be attentive fathers and emotionally engaged spouses. Maybe it’s time for men to expect more from their friendships as well." His statistical data gathering also points out how women receive more social support than men.
The woman’s post went viral, with many chiming in about how rare and precious these kinds of friendships can be for men. Reddit user u/NanoCurrency wrote, "Only way adult men can make friends these days." Another woman shared how she missed watching her husband bond with his male friends over sports, so she nudged him to join a local volleyball team. "So cute! My husband used to talk about sports, A LOT. I could only take so much. So I encouraged him to join an indoor volleyball league. After that, I got an evening to myself and he got to talk about sports with other people who enjoyed talking about sports," wrote u/Prudent-Poetry-2718. Some commenters even joked that they wished for the same opportunity. u/OnlyFuzzy13 commented, "I wish my wife would set me up a play date.
Stories like these are small yet comforting. They remind us that friendship doesn’t always begin with grand plans or long histories.
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