Dear Freddy and Terri Jo,

I decided I would address both of you rather than separately. To have to do this again would be too difficult, and makes my heart hurt.

Fred, today marks two years into your eternity. Tj, in nineteen days you will mark your two years into eternity. Suffice it to say, May and June are difficult. In a span of forty days, we celebrate both of your birthdays and mourn both of your deaths. Fred at 56 years and Tj at 43. Both very young, and only a spec on a chart of eternity.

I often wonder what it is like, where you are. Are you in a time out? Are you aware of the what is happening here. I know that there is no pain, no hurt, no worries.

I like to think both of you are aware of everything, that you are like guardian angels watching over all of us you left behind. But just in case, I thought I would give you the highlights of what has gone one since you have been gone.

For Fred, the biggest news would be you have a grandaughter. Dakota Rain. FYI she has your eyes, and Pat and I agree we can see you in her. You would be so proud. She is a chunk! 31 pounds, and she has a couple of months until she will celebrate her first birthday. ( She has surpassed Drew Dagan, Rian and Erica's third boy, who will be two in December and weighs a hefty 28 pounds, he is a new addition since you left).

For Tj, you are not a Grandmother! And that is good.

In other big news, Jake and Lindsey are expecting twins, due in December. So far she has had a lot of morning sickness. By the way, Jake took a job with Sweetwater ISD, coaching defensive ends and teaching for Coach Slaughter (he is new from Clyde) and will begin in June.

Pat and Steve became grandparents, last July. Chloe is their grandaughter. It remains to be seen if Pat ends up being a Granny or Whoop Whoop or Wheezer, but I feel confident Hag will remain Grumpy. As usual, all the babies love Hag. Steph and JR moved to Palestine last summer and he is working with an accounting firm there. Pat makes pretty regular pilgrimages between Roscoe and Palestine.

J.K. is still in the metroplex. I don't see her much except for the bigger holidays. She still is very self sufficient and seems to do very well on her own.

Jason is still doing his Florida thing. In fact he moved his entire family there in January of 2009. They are all doing well. The boys are getting big. Big D went to state in Florida pole vaulting, as a freshman. The week prior to, he got hurt so he didn't do as well as everyone hoped. They finished their contract in Florida, and their next project has been postponed (due to the economy) until May next year, so they are moving home. they have been hauling equipment for the last two or three weeks. Their school just got out so it shouldn't be long until they are all back in Texas.

I have already given you the big news about Jake and Lindsey. They are very good helping and keeping check on Memama and Pepa.

Joni is living with her mother in Abilene, working at a trucking company (of all things!). She tells me that it is a lot more enjoyable when the company is making money! (We should have tried that! Hah!). Linda is still working at the Sears facility. I see them occasionally, and they go to Roscoe periodically. (I figure when Dakota gets home and the twins arrive it will be more frequent. They are very much "in to" nieces/nephews/grand-children, you can imagine. When I am working at the parts store I eat lunch at Memama's with Jake, and we tease him that when he and Lindsey have their babies, that will mean one for them, and one for Joni and Linda!

I know they'd sure take one! They do good doting on Dakota and I expect more of the same for the new babies.

Fred, after your death, Jake and Joni kept the business open for almost a year. It turned out your last hire, Daryl the Okie, was a wolf in sheep's clothing. After struggling for a time, they decided to shutter the business. I had told them I could understand wanting to continue the business, but was it their dream or their Daddy's dream? I think both of them would admit, it is much less stressful now.

Krl and I are well. She is running trucks, I help when I am not in the parts store. She is having some problems with osteoporosis. The last two years she has had a broken leg, two broken feet and broken ankles (at the same time), and currently is sporting some broken toes. Oh the perils of aging. Our kids are O.K.. Trc and hers are struggling with the poor economy. Lrn has a 4.0 GPA while being a full time student and working at the credit union as a teller. Ln is going to be a junior at AHS and excels in volleyball. She is working in FBC's daycare this summer. Kat is a big girl and is quite the softball player, yet she is in the gifted and talented program at school. Rian is a middle school assistant principal at Dunbar Middle School in Lubbock. Erica is the director of the pre-school at Greenlawn. Reid completed kindergarten, Holt is a comedian and talker, and Drew is a very happy boy.

My girls continue to be underachievers. Both display very poor choices in men. Both of their current choices in men have served time as guests of the state of Texas. I joke often, that who would have "thunk" Garry (Makai's ex) would be the cream of the crop! Addison is growing up, but doesn't have a chance with her idiot mother. I think if we wait long enough, her mother's "live in" will be back in the pokey and hopefully her mother too (God knows she needs to be incarcerated). Ollie is having lots of health issues. She continues to be a con artist. She has about worn out all of the family by borrowing and not repaying or producing. Her current goal right now is to be deemed as disabled. She is on indigent health care, food stamps and any other program that is available. Her sister should be brought up on fraud charges because she too abuses the systems from unemployment to welfare, to SSI.

I seem to have the extremes in children.

Pat and Hag are good. I have told you their big news. Chris continues to fight his demons. Kyle spends all his time between work and polishing his pickup.

Coach and his family seem to be doing well. Their biggest news is he resigned at Brownwood in January. He has taken the assistant head coaches job at Permian with Gary Gaines. I told him it might be nice not to be where the buck stopped for a change. Jani still has her work and she and Kelsi are living at the Lake until they find them a house in Odessa (coach is staying in an RV). Colb and his family are in a new house in the Denton area. Those girls are very pretty and a stark contrast to Rian's boys (quiet and reserved compared to wild and wooly)! They have added another girl to the previous two, Kennedy is her name. Kelsi's biggest news is that her nightmare is behind her after her auto accident. Hopefully her life will return to normal. Kirb transferred from Miami to Baylor for his Senior year of eligibility (Art is the head coach at Baylor). He suffered a broken foot at the beginning of the season which relegated his season to much less than any of us had hoped for. He did sign as a free agent with the 49ers. He went through mini camp and then they waived him, but I think they invited him back for camp in July.

Edwin has remarried. I know that you would have wanted him to Tj. His wife's name is Stephanie. It has not been without its difficulties. Apparently none of the kids were ready for someone to try to step in to their Momma's place. I think Steph is an exact opposite from you Tj. You have to admit, you weren't a conventional Mom. Shelb is still in Stephenville. I think his romance with Brittany is finally over. Rob is in Austin living with Efren and Angela (friends of Hank, Hag's brother), working and going to school. She lost one job due to scale backs but finally got another one. She got her a new car (Uncle Hag and Pat helped her get the financing). Of course she has already wrecked it two or three times. Wee is living and working in Edna (I think). He has a little girl friend, I saw a picture of them at her prom that Stephanie had sent to Memama. Rollo is growing up. We are all excited to have him come to Roscoe this summer.

Pat says Rob should have Tj tattooed on her forehead. She is your spitting image. She and Stephanie seem to butt heads pretty regular. I know that Edwin has a delicate situation to balance, but sometimes I think Rob not only lost her Mom, but her Dad too. I can't decide whether to talk to Edwin about it, and the situation hasn't been right to talk to him about it. I just don't want to alienate him because he will always be a part of our family, whether he wants to or not! I do know that all of your kids take any criticism of you and your mothering as an insult to you. They all have your fire!

All of us wonder and worry for Rollo.

I got to go down there last summer for four or five weeks. We got the bid to haul the seed for Gulf Coast. It was good to spend time with Et and to meet and get to know his new wife.

We had a big party and celebrated Pepa's 80th birthday in January. We invited all of his sisters, and all of Memama's brothers and sisters, as well as all of our families. Jeanetta and Douglas came from Indiana (Her family seems to be well. Their biggest news was that their granddaughter's fiance was tragically killed). I think everyone was there except you two, Et and his youngest two. It was a really fun day! I joke that it is was just like old times watching all the boys. The only difference is their bodies are much bigger but their brains are still the same size. Jake had brought a little scooter and they all took turns riding and wrecking it. I think even Rians boys were in awe of how "off the wall" their relatives were! And that is saying something.

This past Christmas, Rian and his family came to Abilene and the day after Christmas we went to the Mall so the boys could play. We had gone to an indoor playground but it was closed for the holiday. When we were headed to the mall's indoor playground Rian told me "Watch this Dad, my boys are the bullies of the playground." Thing is, he wasn't saying this in a good way. He told me his boys were really rough! Sure enough, when they entered, they were off and running. It is unbelievable how quickly they found others their age to play with. Before long, their Mom began calling for timeouts! As we had walked into the mall she began asking them what the rules were. As she would begin listing the rules they would begin reciting them with her from memory. No pushing, no hitting, no kicking, no biting, no cutting lines, just to mention a few. I think it was about Reid's second time out when I called him over and told him to tell the other little boy, "My Daddy can whip your Daddy". Rian told me, "Dad, please don't!" I just thought I might liven things up.

The most recent news involves Mom. On May 8, Pepa took her to the farm to help him hook up a plow. The tractor jerked and crushed her right hand between the drawbar and the clevis. They care-flighted her to Lubbock where she had two surgeries in three days. They placed four pins in her hand and wired the knuckles back together. Just this past week they have taken out all the pins and told her it is up to her to straighten her fingers out. Right now she has a claw hand.

Mom and Dad are doing as well as can be expected. They are ageing, and that is sad. They have better days than others both mentally and physically. As you would expect, the loss of their oldest and youngest children aged them tremendously. So it is ya'lls fault! (Just kidding!)

I just want you both to know, you are thought of often and are greatly missed. I don't know how many times I have thought I need to tell Fred that .... . . or I need to call Terri! Both of you can take pride that your children have continued to show the resilience and determination you instilled in them. The loss of both of you seems to have made the family closer. I know I feel I know your children better than I did. I know it is sometimes tempting to offer some tidbit of advice, but we all try to walk the fine line between helpful and intrusive. I think all of them know that advice or help is just a matter of asking.

I am sure I have missed some highlight, there are so many. So much to say and so little time to say it. I might have missed someone, know it was not intentional. Of course if there needs to be an addition or correction any one could add it through the comments.

I am finding it difficult to close. That seems kind of crazy. I guess this is some sort of therapy for me.

Know that I love you both and miss you. Rest in Peace.

Your brother, Don.

Jerland Fred Freeman Jr. May 16, 1951-June 6, 2007

Terri Jo Freeman Teltshik June 15, 1964-June 25, 2007

FATHER, Thank YOU for Freddy and Terri. Thank YOU for the memories we share of them. Thank YOU for their legacies, their children, and how Fred and Tj live on in them. FATHER, I ask YOUR blessings on all of us in a very difficult time. Help us to lift each other up.