Today's Mostly True Short Story: Urson

F LoBuono

It's odd. I've known him well for over twenty five years and I don't even know his last name.

Urson. That's all I know him by. And, I'm not even sure that I even spelled it correctly. What I do know is that he was born in Turkey and emigrated to this Country as a young man to study for a degree in  chemistry. Eventually, he wound up in, of all places, College Station, Texas and Texas A&M University. He has been working as a high level chemist ever since.

He is also one of my favorite people on the planet. I connected with him immediately. I met him at O'Donoghue's Tavern in Nyack where my brother tended bar. He came in frequently for a bite and a cocktail. A bit older than me, we still had a lot in common. Like me, Urson can be hard to miss. Stocky with a neatly trimmed beard, he is a traditional man with a modern ethos. He laughs loud and often but does not suffer fools easily. His devotion to his wife who was dying of cancer when we first met was nothing short of extraordinary. They never let her disease stop them. Never. They lived their life together to the fullest until the very end. And, they never looked for sympathy. They just kept DOING until they couldn't anymore. They inspire me to this very day.

Urson, as I also do, tends to look at a glass as half-full rather than half-empty. He'd rather laugh than cry. Love than hate. He is as much a lapsed Muslim as I am a Catholic. We believe in the inherent goodness of men and let fate take care of itself.

We ran into each other quite by accident the other day. I stopped into a local restaurant that I don't often frequent. But, I wanted a change of pace and decided to drop in. Urson was having a light meal and a drink at the bar. Of course, we greeted each other warmly and before I could even put my hand in my pocket, he was buying me a drink. We exchanged pleasantries. Eventually, our conversation wound to the state of political affairs in this Country. We both expressed our chagrin at how ugly things had become. But, then Urson said something that was typically Urson:

You know Frankie, I've seen a lot of changes since I first came to this Country. Maybe, some are not for the better. But, America is still like a rose - it's got thorns. And, they hurt. But, it is still a sweet smelling, beautiful flower.

He then preceded to ask the bartender to buy a round of drinks for three women across the bar whom he heard has just graduated from nursing school. As they raised their glasses in a toast he called over:

If I should ever need your services, remember who bought you that round of drinks.

God, I love that man!!