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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's Friday, which is when we hear from StoryCorps. And we have the story of Mark Gaskin, who worked on the roads of Colorado as a traffic controller. Just as there are air traffic controllers, there are traffic controllers who oversee traffic on highways. And after being injured on that job, he was unable to work - eventually lost his home. Today Mark lives out of his car, parked outside the apartment where his elderly aunt lives. Mark is her main caretaker, and he told his sister, Debra Ayo, how he became the person his aunt needed most.
MARK GASKIN: In July of last year, her account had gotten hacked.
DEBRA AYO: I remember.
GASKIN: I didn't find out until her rent was due that she had $12 in her account. I went to the office when she got her first notice of eviction, and I told them - I said, there's no way my aunt's going to live on the street, and handed over my debit card. I don't have extra money, but without hesitation, I paid her rent. I didn't want my aunt, this 81-year-old woman, trying to live the way I was living my life - sleeping in my car, having to go to rec centers to shower, going to food banks to eat.
AYO: In reality, as a homeless person, you helped Auntie not to be homeless.
GASKIN: I'm glad I was able to show her that our relationship goes beyond finances. It's just love. Cleaning up the house, doing laundry, taking her shopping, even if she doesn't want to buy anything but she just wants to get out of the house - that's what I do. And she's always asking, well, does it bother me? I tell her - I says, no. I says, this is what I'm here for.
AYO: Where do you think we learned how to take care of our elders?
GASKIN: Growing up, I remember Mom - she doesn't have a car. She has nine kids. Her parents lived 5 miles away. So in order for her to take care of her parents, she had to pack us up, walk the 5 miles to go visit them, take care of their everyday needs, and then we'd have to walk back. You know, it's tough right now because - my situation, living out of my car. But it doesn't change my duty as a member of this family.
AYO: I can truly say that I am so pleased with the way you have taken care of Auntie. Should anything happen today and she passes, when you lay your head down at night, you've done all that you can do. You did your best with what was given to you.
GASKIN: Before, you know, I was doing so good. I had a great job, had a two-bedroom house, my own private yard. Now all that's gone. But I'm OK with that because the joy that I get from knowing that Auntie's taken care of - it's worth it for me.
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INSKEEP: Mark Gaskin and his sister Debra Ayo. Their interview is archived at the Library of Congress. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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