About seven or eight years ago, a woman only identified by her Twitter username, Chachi Chatters, decided that she wanted to celebrate her best friend's daughter's graduation by driving up to Yale University and taking her out for a meal.
However, what started out as a normal day ended up in a special encounter that she will remember for the rest of her life.
Chatters recently took to social media to recount the tale through a series of tweets and it has since gone viral.
Here's what happened:
Chatters drove up to New Haven, Connecticut, but after lunch, her friend's daughter explained that she and a few friends were going to a concert later that day and they bought an extra ticket so she could join them.
Realizing that she was among a group of people much younger than her, Chatters got a bit embarrassed and tried to "weasel [her] way out" of the show.
She gave them every excuse she could think of, including "'I'm too old,' 'I don't want to have a cardiac arrest halfway through,' 'I will drag you all down with me,'" but "they wouldn't budge."
"I went with them. We drove an hour north. Parked the car and followed the buzzing crowd in...Needless to say, I had the time of my life. We sang along to the most memorable songs. (It's always amazing when you know the lyrics better than the young ones)."
As any responsible mom-figure would do, Chatters made sure to drop off the girls back to their dorms and ensured that they were safe for the night.
"It was may be 2 a.m. and although physically exhausted, I was still high on all the adrenaline. I was also starving."
She then made a spur of the moment decision and walked into a pizza place just outside of New Haven.
"For some reason, it was bustling. There was a huge group of people and everyone seemed to know everyone.There were no tables. I decided to just head to one of the barstools."
This is the part where things took a turn Chatters never saw coming.
Chatters was waiting for her order when someone came and sat beside her.
"I looked at her. I looked at her again. I looked at her for a minute before I remembered I wasn't breathing."
To her utter disbelief, it was none other than the artist she saw in concert earlier, Dolly Parton, that was sitting next to her.
"Lovebud, you okay?' she [Dolly] said with her mischievous smile.""I tried to play it cool. The appetizers came (garlic knots, we're they?)She asked me if she could have one from my plate.(Urgh. Okay. Sure. But also, OMG YAY)"
When Parton's food arrived, she offered Chatters "a slice of her stromboli," but she politely declined because she doesn't eat ham. But that did not get in the way of their conservation.
"A polite conversation ensued. I'm pretending to be all cool. Inside, I'm purring like a happy cat. The waiter comes over and whispered, 'your table's ready ma'am.' I was ready to say goodbye and eat my pizza and be happy for the rest of my life."
Parton, known for her warmth and generosity, invited Chatters to join her. The Boston woman admitted that she almost "did a royal curtsy" in that moment, but she managed to stay composed and just say "thank you."
"We talked about growing up, kids, health issues, husbands, politics, weather, pedicures. We sampled each other's pizza."
Chatters explained that she "decided not to bother her with any mention of her fame," which is probably one of the reasons why their encounter lasted for as long as it did.
"In the end, we paid our own bills and we're going to go our separate ways. She asked someone in her entourage for a pen. She took my ticket to her concert from my hand.'Love, Dolly Parton,' she wrote."
After giving Chatters an autograph, Parton told her to drive safe and wished her a goodnight.
Nearly a decade later, Chatters still has moments where she can't wrap her head around the fact that she dined with the country legend.
"Some days I wake up and still think it was just a dream. Then I walk to the wall and look at the framed ticket. And I still get goosebumps.And I smile and I hum a little and I do a litlle twirl.
She called me lovebud, I tell myself. And my day is made."
Chatters' story inspired many other Twitter users to also share their lovely encounters with Parton, but of course, there were a few people who thought the story was made up.
Thankfully, the "Joelene" singer herself confirmed that it really happened, according to the Huffington Post.
