From PRX, this is the Moth Radio Hour. I'm Jody Powell. I'm a producer and director at the Moth.

When I first started thinking about hosting this hour, I was drawn to a common theme that

rings loudly in Moth Stories, Service. I might be extra tuned for my days as a waiter in New York City,

or from seeing my grandmother always attending to her neighbors far and near in the hills of Jamaica where I grew up.

It feels good to do something on behalf of others, your lifelong partner, the person behind you in the supermarket,

someone you've never met, or someone who shows up unexpectedly at your door and gets a place at your dinner table.

To be in service of is a foundational pillar. It is universal whether what's being served is kind words,

courage, pasta, or love.

The first story comes from Stacey Baderkari. She told it at a ranzlam at the region in Los Angeles

where we partnered with KCRW, here's Stacey.

So on our fifth date, Dave and I walked the Silk Road, which was an exhibit at the Museum of Natural History in New York.

On our previous dates, we'd been to a wine bar, a concert, a poetry slam, the zoo.

Everywhere except the one place I really wanted to go to bed.

And there was just like this weird disconnect between these mushy things Dave would say and write to me.

And then this distance he was keeping. And at the, when we were done with the museum, I was done with this sadistic courtship crap.

And I just wanted to go home, but then he said, do you want to go to Shake Shack?

And I said, fine, because I love cheeseburgers. And so we go to Shake Shack and it's crowded and we have to wedge and close at this little counter space.

And he smells so good and I'm falling in love with him. And then he says, there's something I have to tell you.

And I want to throw a pickle in his face because I am 38 years old, I am divorced, I have children.

And I now realize every single man I meet online has something they have to tell me.

So I say, what? And he says, look, I'm really attracted to you.

But I have this autoimmune disease and it affects my bile ducts. And I have an infection and I've been walking around with a drain in my side and a bag of bile strapped my leg.

...