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My Reading - By Sean

When I think back throughout my life with my Mom there are so many Memorable times and interesting things I remember. Today I would like to Share just a few of these with everyone. When I was really young and lived In Kitchener before we moved to Elmira. Mom used to do laundry in the Basement. I used to be able to see her folding the laundry if I peeked down From the top of the stairs underneath the handrail. One day I was watching Her from this position and she ran up the stairs to get something and told Me to stay put, dont move she said Ill be right back. So as I was doing what 2 or 3 olds do and by that I mean not really paying attention. I had my hands on the railing above my head and I was sort of arching forward, goofing around waiting for her to come back. In an instant my hands slipped and I fell through the opening and summer saulted through the opening to the basement below, Mom heard the commotion and came flying to make sure I was alright, realizing I had fallen she was panicked and calling my name thinking I landed on the cement floor below. When she rounded the corner in the basement only to find me on my back laying in the pile of clothes on the table where she folded the laundry she calmly said whatcha doin? She picked me up and inspected me for any injuries and then continued on folding laundry, just shaking her head. I never did get in trouble for this and her reaction was something I would come to see many more times growing up. She was quick to react and equally as quick to shake it off. She really was cool and collected as they say. When I think about how mom will be remembered I like to think that everyone will agree that she was stubborn in her ways yet she had conviction. I remember telling mom many years ago she should quit smoking for her health. She literally kicked me out of her apartment and we didnt speak for a month. That was last time I tried to tell Mom what she should do. She loved to tell you a good story but she was also a great listener. She was smart, funny and wise. She always had our backs when we needed her. So many times I got to see her face light up when she was listening to a story about her Grandkids and most recently about her great grandson Ryan. She was always thrilled for whatever achievement any of you had, big or small. Sometimes she retold me the same story I told her and each time it was like the most amazing event and she just had to let you know. She lived her life the way she wanted to even in tough times. She persevered and always took the hand she was dealt. She didnt dwell on bad times in fact she shook a lot of it off like she always seemed to do. If you were lucky enough for her to like you then you had a person you could trust for life. If she didnt like you, well you already know she didnt because she would have told you and there may have been cursing. It always brought a smile to my face when mom would call me and say can you come over when you can? and it doesnt have to be right now I heard this so many times I cant even tell you. I spent significant time fixing her laptop or resetting a remote or programming a TV. Everytime she would say I dont know whats wrong with this stupid thing it just quit working. Usually these things were simple fixes and it always made me smile when she was so happy I could get them working for her. Mom and I talked about death one time, likely a year ago or so and Im not sure how we ended up on the topic to be honest. In our conversation I asked her point blank. Are you afraid of dying? She looked me in the eyes with a smug kinda look, shrugged her shoulders and said Nah! Youre here for a while then youre not its that simple. Life goes on. No Biggie. I understood what she meant because this was her carefree attitude about life and what you get. I told her well mom I will miss you , you know. Honest to god she looked me in the eyes and said point blank you will get over it and shrugged her shoulders. While driving home I thought who says that to her son? The more I thought about it the more it made sense to me. Mom knows we will be sad and she will be missed but she also knows we all loved her and our lives are also important. We are all here for a short time and the time we spend with each other is the most important thing. We create memories with each other so that one day when its someone elses turn to talk about us we didnt crawl into a self made hole and live depressed and miserable We Got Over It. And we will do this as she would have wanted us to do. We will do it together in her honor. Love you Mom!
Posted by Sean Freeborn
Sunday May 31, 2020 at 8:23 am
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