A teenager in Hampton, Mississippi, captivated the internet with a touching story of reconnecting with a friend she had lost contact with via Twitter.
Brianna Cry, 19, posted a photo of herself with the friend that she was hoping to find on Nov. 24. She sent out the photo with text that read: “Hey twitter, I met this girl on a dinner cruise in Hawaii in 2006. We were basically bestfriends for that night so I need y’all to help me find my bestfriend cause I miss her and I need to see how she’s doing now. Please retweet this so we can be reunited.”
Not long after that tweet, her friend Heidi Tran received the message.
“Bruhhh it’s been literal years since I was last on Twitter and the first thing I see is a search party for my [expletive],” Tran posted the same day.
Tran had not been active on the Twitter platform since Aug. 28, 2017.
Hey twitter, I met this girl on a dinner cruise in Hawaii in 2006. We were basically bestfriends for that night so I need y’all to help me find my bestfriend cause I miss her and I need to see how she’s doing now. Please retweet this so we can be reunited. pic.twitter.com/LRtk6ClvV3
— Bri ???? (@briannacry) November 24, 2018
Cry started her search for Tran after browsing through some old scrapbooks during Thanksgiving when she came across their photo, according to Teen Vogue.
“I thought, ‘Let’s see if Twitter can find her for me,’” Cry told Teen Vogue. “I don’t think there were many kids our age on this particular dinner cruise, so we found each other and stuck together the whole time.”
After sending out her tweet, Cry was surprised how many people spread it, quickly helping the two make contact again.
Tran was notified of Cry’s tweet and the quest to find her by some classmates who were on Twitter.
“They directed me towards Twitter, and…I was blown away by the response Bri had gotten,” Tran told Teen Vogue. “I didn’t think so many people would be invested in a story like this.”
Cry and Tran told Teen Vogue they hope to have an in-person reunion some day but that they are at least speaking online.
“We messaged each other and caught up on life,” Cry told Teen Vogue.
According to Teen Vogue, Tran and Cry attend school on opposite sides of the country.
“To everyone who’s saying @briannacry and I should meet up: I’m going to community college on financial aid I’m not going anywhere anytime soon,” Tran wrote on Twitter, above a photo of a hissing cat.
Tran is also warning people not to contribute to a fake Gofundme page that was set up to finance a reunion.
To my knowledge, neither @briannacry or I have set up/been contacted about a gofundme. Please be careful about links everyone, and keep your muns close to your huns uwu pic.twitter.com/bRXItgPJDU
— heii (@heii_tree) November 25, 2018
Numerous Twitter users have expressed their joy and best wishes for the reunited friends. The story is also spurring on the posting of crying memes of all kinds.
As Cry saw her tweet starting to go viral, she made an additional request.
“This was at 9 retweets when I fell asleep.. Sooo I’m looking for a husband as well so y’all can try to find him too while y’all search for girly. thanks,” Cry posted in the comments of that original tweet.