I met Tommy in 1990 when he was 17 and I was 18. We both attended Plano Senior High together. My family and I have memories of him being in or sleeping in my closet because he would stay the night at my house, but I would have to hide him in there because he was a guy. We would stay up all night laughing, prank call people, watch movies or even putting mud masks on. He introduced me to amazing music that we would dance all night to. He also would always get a full course meal because I would feed him the leftovers from dinner. At first I got in so much trouble from my mom when she went into my closet and saw all these plates with steak bones, lobster tails, half eaten baked potatoes, etc… Eventually my mother figured out that he was harmless (such as had no romantic interest in me, lol) and considered him one of my best girlfriends. He and I were so relieved when it didn’t have to be a secret anymore and he could actually sleep in the same room with me. He stepped in to my closet, then stepped back out and said, “Now I can come out of the closet.”
Coming out of the closet
Contributed by: Beth Brandt
Hi Beth!
Somewhere I have old tapes from my answering machine & I’m sure you are on at least one of the tapes. I used to save some of the tapes because friends left funny messages. I can still hear your voice laughing on my machine. I don’t remember Tommy spending the night at your house since I wasn’t there, but, I do remember the 3 of us talking on the phone 3-way and making prank calls. All 3 of us had pranking in common. It’s a shame Caller ID put an end to the fun of a prank call because that used to make us laugh so hard back in the day.
I wish we had recordings of the prank calls.
Do you remember how you actually met Tommy? Were you in a class together? I’m pretty sure I met you through him.
Hello Mary!
So good to hear from you, even though it’s under this unfortunate circumstance. I honestly don’t remember how I met Tommy. I’m guessing it was through a friend of a friend because he was in a grade below me. We didn’t have any classes together. I loved clubbing with him. It went all the way back to Monopoly’s, The Aqua Lounge and Club One. I would do anything to hear those tapes. I still giggle thinking of this one poor guy we terrorized on a regular basis.
Tom and I had a holiday tradition of drinking together after the guests at home went to bed. This was usually Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve. It was usually a large bottle of cheap white wine from the supermarket that only really young people drink. So we were pouring it on and I asked him directly if he “was” or if he “wasn’t.” A drunk question out of the blue. He just looked at me with that smirk and said “David, you know the answer to that.” It was a funny moment, so we drank some more. I was always grateful his family accepted when he “came out” and his grandmother was as supportive as any of the clubbers. A good family to be open with. If you have any cheap white wine laying around (the big bottle – headache guaranteed), take a swig and toast Tom with that smirk.
The last time I saw Tommy was during college. I’d transferred from Boston University to SMU, and he was either living in Dallas or visiting … can’t recall. We went to a Deep Ellum coffeehouse, and over the course of the night, he came out to me. Although this fell under the “tell me something I don’t know” category, I’m honored he trusted me enough to share that with me. Even if I was living in an alternate universe and this news was a revelation, it wouldn’t have changed anything. Thank you for being part of my life, Tommy.