JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Time now for "My Unsung Hero," our series from the team at Hidden Brain. "My Unsung Hero" tells the stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else.
Today's story comes from Adrianne Drazin. Some years ago, Drazin flew overseas with her three young children, who were all between 3 months and 4 years old. Her husband was already at her destination, so it was just her and her three kids. When they got off the plane, she was hauling a carry-on suitcase, multiple diaper bags and her baby in a car seat. They stopped to wait for their stroller. As they waited, Adrianne Drazin noticed a family with young children. They looked like they had everything they needed, but they seemed to be waiting for something.
ADRIANNE DRAZIN: And it occurred to me that they were waiting in order to help me. Now, I surely did not want to ask anybody for help, nor did I want to accept their help. I was far too humiliated to accept it easily. So when the other mother said to me, come on, give me your stroller or give me one of your kids, or give me your wheelie - I'm going to give you a hand - my first response was to say, no, no, no, I'm fine. I'm fine. I got this. And she looked at me with the most assertive, strong look on her face and said, if you tell me how you are going to get to the baggage carousel with two little kids, an infant, an infant car seat, a stroller, and a wheelie, then I will let you go. But until you tell me how you're going to do this, I'm helping you.
Her candor and her insistence on helping me and her clarity of mind - because, of course, I could not carry all of those things, including, at this point, two crying children and a baby. Had I not listened to her, I would have been stuck. I am so grateful for this unsung hero, whose name I never got and who I'm sure I never thanked properly. She really saved the day. When I finally saw my husband at the exit of the airport, he looked at me carrying all these things and said, how on earth did you get here with all these things? I said - I looked around, trying to find her. I said, there was this lady. She - these people - they just helped me.
I'm really grateful to that woman. It was such a small thing, I'm sure, in her day. She might not have realized it, but it made me think of her as a fellow proud member of the mom tribe, and we look out for each other. She's really an unsung hero.
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SUMMERS: Adrianne Drazin lives in Montreal, Canada. You can find more stories like this one on the "My Unsung Hero" podcast. And to share the story of your unsung hero, visit myunsunghero.org for instructions on how to send a voice memo.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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