My heart grew

Have you read See You Later?

A few months into knowing Tom, my mother allowed me to have him on our ski vacation. It’s such a sweet bonding moment that I decided to share in my memoir.

We were newly in love and dating. I had just turned 16 and he had just turned 17. Babies in 1988.

We were immersed in getting to know one another and already attached at the hip.

It’s the Wisconsin Dells. We skied, drank cocoa, sat in a hot tub, stole a few moments alone and roasted marshmallows.

“Thirty minutes away from our destination, we managed to get a flat tire. Our car limped onto a side road and, as we pulled over, Tom immediately offered to help my father. “I’m gonna have to put on our spare tire,” Frank grumbled. “Mr. Norris, can I help in any way?” “Yes, that would be helpful. Let’s get out and see what we’ve got going on here,” Frank stated, sounding very in charge of the situation. They got out as the rest of us watched them with eagle eyes. They unloaded the entire trunk of luggage and random supplies onto the side of the road. The rest of us ambled out of the car and stood on the side of the road, anxiously waiting for a Frank Norris mental breakdown. Tom lifted out the spare tire and rolled it over to my dad, who was already jacking up the car. Between the two of them, we only spent thirty minutes in the cold. My heart grew two times its normal size as that beautiful young man helped Frank and somehow kept him from exploding.”

Natalie Mosley Klenotic author of See You Later