Thomas Norberg was born on October 25th, 1956.
He has ascended to Heaven on this day of January 30th, 2021.
We’ve all heard the quote:
“Dance like nobody’s watching, Love like you’ve never been hurt, Sing like no one is listening, Live like it’s Heaven on earth.”
I think most of us have attempted short lived motivated glimpses of this at best, but Uncle Tom truly lived that way.
The term “life of the party” doesn’t do him justice at all. In fact, it didn’t even apply to him because it went unannounced. He made it a party even when it wasn’t . It didn’t matter if it was just the two of you for the evening, or a group of 20 or more, Tom had a way of making it fun every single time.
For anyone that knew him, the following statement goes without saying. He could tell a story like no one else. In our circles, if someone were to even think about a story that Uncle Tom knew about or was part of in any way, it would almost always start out as “Did I ever tell you about the time…” and then abruptly change to a “Wait a minute, where’s Tom?….there he is. Tom, You tell it!”
And I shit you not, you’ve heard people say they laughed so hard they cried, well Tom had people laughing so hard they’d be saying “stop, I’m going to pee my pants.” I can hear my Mom and her sisters in my head saying it right now as if it was yesterday, barely able to get the words out of their mouths because they were laughing so hard…”I’m gonna pee my pants, I really am.”
Another thing Tom would do all the time would be blurting out one liners from various movies that would have you eventually laughing and doing it along with him, even if you hadn’t seen some of the movies that the lines were from. To this day there are times I am randomly reminded of some of those lines and laugh out loud when thinking of him.
And Jokes. You want jokes. I’d go to my Uncle Tom and ask him to tell me a joke and before I could get the words out of my mouth he’d be screaming back at me from the top of his lungs…”What’s the matter, can’t you take a YOLK!?!” and he’d have me and anyone else around laughing like we already heard a punchline. “I don’t have any new ones” he’d say, before punching out a couple of new ones having us rolling on the floor and then telling a few old ones as well.
You see, Tom had many gifts, and that was one of them. He could tell a story or a joke, and it really didn’t matter if you were hearing it for the first time or the one hundredth time, it was always just as good when coming from Tom. I could honestly listen to him talk about anything and be truly entertained. He had that type of demeanor in his personality. A way of having people drawn to him. I’m sure it was for multiple reasons, but I think one of them was that no matter how hard of a day one was having, they knew that being around Tom would have them soon forgetting about it entirely and enjoying themselves.
Enjoying himself is something he truly knew how to do, and he did it so well.
Another one of his gifts that was contagious when in his company. I remember countless times being with him with music in the background. At a family gathering, a dinner, or in the car….when a song Tom really liked came on and he’d start dancing and say “Ooh, CRANK IT!!!” wanting me to turn it up extra loud.
And who in the family can even call Christmas Christmas without hearing Tom listening to Holiday music and yelling out a resounding “Girls!!!..I’m under the Mistletoe!!!!” Somehow, it’s obnoxious and comforting at the same time, leave it to Tom to pull off that seemingly impossible task.
Tom had a fashion sense that somehow thrived through the ages without missing a beat. I mean he could turn a polo shirt, scarf, and an old pair or trousers with a belt into a fashion show and make it work no matter what timeline it came from.
Another rare gift that most will never be capable of or even pretend to understand how he did it time and time again.
Tom was a rarity in this world in that he wasn’t afraid to truly be himself. What you saw is what you got with Uncle Tom. The real genuine article.
I think of all the gifts Tom had, his ability to make us laugh is what we will miss the most. And while I know he is gone from this physical realm, I also understand that consciousness is forever, so he remains a constant with all of us in our hearts and in our minds.
If laughter indeed is “the best medicine”, then I’m in dire need of a prescription for my Uncle Tom. But I know in my heart that there is no replacement for that, there is no refill for that prescription. Only a life well cherished that I am grateful to have been a part of beyond words, as well as memories that will last until the day we meet again.
“Today, even the Angels are laughing above the sun, because Heaven just got a lot more fun.”