I am the only one still living of the Freeman clan. Looking back to those yesteryears, my mom deserves all the credit for the countless hours of toil and the abundent love she had for her family. She never complained nor did i ever hear her speak harshly against anyone. She lived a great life despite all the hardships she went through. She never remarried was always there to see that we kids were taken care of. Most of Proverbs, Ch. 31: 10-31 is scripture that relates to us the type Godly person she really was. I know for a fact also we kids did a lot of things to torment her but she knew how to handle each situation. I mentioned earlier that she would send my younger brothers to the store with a chicken to trade for whatever she needed. I remember coffee was about 20 cents a bag and usually the chicken was worth 25 cents. She would expect the 5 cents back. My brother Leo told her coffee had gone up to 25 cents and he took the 5 cents and bought Bull Durham tobacco. I was with them when they would hide in the barn an try smoking. She caught us doing this and set the punishment. Her mother, our grandmother was staying with us at the time and she smoked a cob pipe. My mother made the three of us come in the house, sit down and she got grandma's pipe and made all three smoke it. As i recall there was no more smoking done after that. One puff on the old corn cob pipe will last a lifetime.

The point i really want to get accross is to have the love and respect for your moms as you go through life. Don't wait and lose the opportunity to let them know you do love and appreciate them. My mom lived just ten days short of her seventy fifth birthday.