JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Time now for "My Unsung Hero," our series from the team at the Hidden Brain podcast. "My Unsung Hero" tells the stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else. Today's story comes from Brad Larsen. In May 2001, Larsen's family gathered at a diner in New York City to celebrate his graduation from NYU. That would be the last time he saw his mom. She died suddenly, just two weeks later. About four years after her death, Brad decided to return to the diner as a way to connect with her again.
BRAD LARSEN: And so I took a seat at the bar. And there were maybe, I don't know, five or six people there and a bartender. And they were all talking with each other like they knew each other. It seemed like a very kind of regulars kind of place. And I was quiet. And at some point, the bartender turned to me and asked me, you know, who I was and why was I there. And it felt like everyone's kind of energy went foof (ph). And I shared that that was the last place that I had seen my mother. And I remember them just kind of immediately wanting to know my story and ask me about my mom and know more about what had happened.
And it seems very New York. They were loving and interested. And I was a total stranger, you know, but they were very kind. But actually, like, I hadn't experienced, like, a group of people to grieve with, really. And at some point, the bartender asked me if I remembered where I had sat with my family the last time. And I did remember, and he invited me to go sit there. The dining room was closed, and all the booths and tables were dark. But he unhooked that kind of velvet rope that they had to rope off the area and let me find the table and take a seat.
And I just remember, like, having this wave of grief come over me and started crying and feeling connected and feeling my mother's presence and feeling a lot of love and the sort of mini temporary community that these strangers created for me that allowed me to connect with that last moment with my mom. And that experience is - even as I tell it, I feel the tears coming, and it just feels like yesterday. They gave me this moment with my mother, and, yeah, that's magical. That's so, so loving.
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SUMMERS: Brad Larsen lives in Portland, Oregon. You can find more stories of unsung heroes and learn how to submit your own at hiddenbrain.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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