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.

My unsung hero is my therapist.

I said, it's okay. I still love you.

You're still my best friend so if she hears this I just

want to say thank you today's story comes from Mary Louise Kelly she's a

co-host of NPR's All Things Considered. One evening some time ago, Mary

Lewis was walking home from her favorite bookstore in downtown Washington, D.C. She was

clutching three new books.

I read so much for work that I just love the rare pleasure of getting to read something that's what I want to read.

And so I had bought three books all for myself.

And I was walking out of the bookstore so happy,

excited to wander home about a 15 minute walk back

to my house and crack one open.

I get to, I think, the second corner and I'm waiting for the traffic light to change and

it's taking a little while before it gives me the walk sign.

So I pull my phone out of my pocket,

send my mom a text about something I'd been meaning to tell her,

send my husband a text to say, I'm walking home,

and I go to slide my phone back into my pocket and my wallet was gone. My wallet which had been in the

same pocket, tightly zipped up, my wallet which contained my Visa card, my American Express card, my driver's license, a spare house key, my entire life.

And I look around and think, oh, oh, oh, unpronounceable word that I shouldn't say on air.

...