From Hidden Brain Media, I'm Shankar Vedantam.

This is My Unsung Hero, stories where one person reached out to help another in a time of need.

I don't know the name of my unsung hero.

And here she was trying to encourage me that it was going to be all right.

Thank you. You will forever be my

unsung hero. Today's story comes from Donald Cabara, and it's in honor of Father's Day.

In the spring of 2023, Donald visited Washington, D.C. with his son Tim and Tim's family.

On the last day of the trip, Donald was scheduled to fly back home to Oklahoma,

a trip that would begin with a ride to the airport on D.C. subway system, the metro.

After they arrived at the metro station, Tim insisted on walking his father inside.

But when they got there, Donald wasn't sure which train to take to get to the airport. So I approached the attendants, a middle-aged woman,

and asked her for directions to the train to Reagan Airport.

She told me to pass through the gate, take the escalator down, and go to the right,

and the train should arrive there.

So I gave my son one hug and a second hug, and he was standing next to me at her booth,

so she saw that it was a special moment for me.

And I went down the escalator and was waiting for my train

when all of a sudden my son appeared next to me.

And I asked, what are you doing here? He told me, the attendants told him he should come down

and give me an extra hug goodbye.

He gave me one last hug and went back up, and I went along my way to the airport.

What impressed me is that this woman was so perceptive that she could see just by our actions,

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