A Story Telling Night

Perhaps I have told you, I have two younger brothers; Tom who is four years my junior and Marty who is 16 years younger. I am 'closer' to Tom than Marty for two reasons: nearness of age and proximity of residence. Tom lives 2 hours from me whereas Marty lives in Dallas, Texas. That said, I doted over brother Marty when he was very small.

Tom has dealt with some of the Roustio (DNA) heart issues for eighteen years. He had by-pass surgery back in 1995 and in the interim years he has had seven heart stints placed in his heart arteries. The most recent heart procedure performed on brother Tom was a few weeks ago.

My son Steve and I share some St. Louis Cardinals' season baseball tickets and Steve even has a ticket sharing plan with another. Well, Steve recently matched his ''other' tickets  with my tickets on May 15; just this Wednesday past. I mentioned to Steve that, 'if Tom was feeling heart-stronger, I'd invite him to join me for the Mets-Cards game May 15 but I feared he would be too taxed walking parking distance to our seats. Well, Steve's very loving heart kicked into gear. He telephoned my brother Tom (his Uncle No nee) and told Tom that he would drive Tom and I to the front of the stadium before the game, go park in the garage and then after the game get the auto and pick us up at the 'Musial Statue' directly in front of the main entrance of the park...limited walking for Tom and his elder brother.

I am proud to state that son, Steve was over-the-top with attentiveness to his father and uncle completing all promised tasked. Brothers Roustio enjoyed more than the baseball game that evening. We re-visited a myriad of growing up moments and swapped stories that lasted the entire 9-innings; three hour contest. While waiting for Steve to pick up the old boys, I said to my brother, "Tom, you DO realize that we are the last of the Roustios and when one of us leaves this earth those stories just shared will NEVER be told again...the characters are unknown by all others and of no interest." His acknowledgement was a smile.

Thank you, Steve. Your Dad and Uncle shared a very 'special' evening because of your caring-kindness.