1 year ago I was packing. Mom and Dad wanted to take the girls Courtney, Faith and Cecelia up to the U.P. (Upper Peninsula) of Michigan for a long weekend. All the relatives were getting together at the lake, cooking out, boating, fishing, drinking beer. All those great things we did growing up when we visited every few years. Many of those 22 hour drives were taken with Renee. We were the road trip Queens. I was her co-pilot, my job, keep her awake, light her cigarettes, pour her Diet Pepsi and keep the kids quite. Now it is only a 4 hour road trip. In Renee standards barely qualifies :-)
The plan was I would follow mom and dad up on Saturday morning, little Sammy and I would spend the night and Sunday afternoon I would drive home with little Sam and the girls would stay for the week with Grandma and Grandpa doing more fun things. Going to visit the Iron mine, Piers gorge, the ski jump, more fishing and swimming at the lake etc...I was a bit grumbley (word ?) because big Sam was working and I hate packing so much stuff for 4 kids. 3 who would be staying a week.
We drove the 4 hours to Norway, stopped at the Americ Inn (nicely built right across from the Thirsty Whale) unpacked and then headed over to the cabins on the lake.
It was August 15th 2010.
It was great to get there. Everyone was there. Uncle Joe, Eddie, and Ken, Auntie Arlene, Margaret, Cheryl and most cousins Danny, Amy, David, Jim, Ralph, Annette, Michelle, Matthew, Katie and all the new little cousins. It had been awhile since I had been to visit but in true Giesen spirit everything fell into place as if you were "home" and had never left.
We ate, drank a few beers, the kids swam, Uncle Ken built a fire, we roasted marshmallows. Everything was good, and perfect and happy. After it got dark we went back to the AmericInn so Mom and Dad and I and the kids could all go swimming. Everyone got in the pool except me, I went and picked up a pizza, the German group was in the lobby, we drank wine, laughed, everything was good, happy, normal. Except Renee had been murdered just hours before while we were sitting around a campfire and we didn't know.
The next morning Uncle Joe brought me and the girls out to "camp" one of my most favorite things to do. The whole ride out in the truck with Uncle Joe we were laughing, telling stories, he passing them all down to a new generation, my girls like he did with all of us at one time in our lives. Getting out of the truck, unlocking the gate, always locking it behind us, "now do you have the key?" "Yes Joe, I have the key" One of Renee's favorite places was going to camp with Uncle Joe. If she had been cremated, like she wanted to be, I am sure that is one of the places she would have wanted to be.
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| Do you see Renee shining down here? |
So we did all the typical Uncle Joe things, some chores first always. Then he got out the guns. He taught my girls all about them. How to always safely handle them, to always assume they are loaded even if they are empty, how to load the clips or the chamber, and most importantly NEVER EVER point a gun at someone, always keep it at the ground, even if the safety is on, even if the bullets are spent. All the same things Uncle Joe taught me about guns when I was 7, all the same things he taught all of us. Safety first. Respect.
We made targets with beer cans, found a big piece of cardboard made a bulls eye would go to check and circle our hits with a sharpie and put our initials.
Cecelia collected all the spent casings to take home as souvenirs. Uncle Joe posed with the girls holding the guns looking like gangsters. In front of his big pile of rocks.
While we were "playing" with guns, we had no idea Renee was dead because of one.
We left camp, locked the gate behind us, "yes, I have the key Joe" Stopped on the bridge to look at the river, stopped along the road to show the kids the lone grave stone. Always was a favorite thing for uncle Joe to do for as long as I can remember.
Got back to Uncle Joe's and he got out the "big" guns, showed then to the girls, they posed with some of them, took some funny pictures. He showed us his night cam pictures of the deer and bear out at camp. I even emailed something from his computer to myself.
Then I hugged him and left. Promising I would send him copies of all the pictures. (I have yet to do this) Little Sammy and I needed to get on the road to get home, and brought the girls back to the lake to be with their cousins and everyone else, they were not going to stay long, do a little fishing, then go back to the hotel and swim there. And away we went. "Yes mom, I will be careful, yes mom I will call when I get home" Love you Bye.
The drive home was pretty quite, Sammy slept most of the way. I talked for a couple hours to Renee's oldest Katie. The day prior Jessica had gotten married. Renee was not "allowed" to come, she told me about all the drama, and how she was so happy it was over and didn't need to "deal" with her sister Jessica anymore. I listened to it all because that is what I do, I am the listener. Love you bye. (That was the last time she ever spoke nicely to me)
Stopped in Ladysmith to fill up on gas, (cheapest around) took a picture of Sammy carrying the bag of snacks we bought out to the car. Both of us excited to be only a couple more hours away from home.
I think I got home around 10pm, Sam helped me carry my bags into the house, plopped them on the kitchen floor. Started to tell Sam about the weekend and perhaps 15 minutes later my phone rang. It was Gretchen. My first footsteps into Hell began that moment.
"Monica, where is big Sam?" "Right here why?" "Is he right next to you?" "Yes Gretchen why?" "Monica, sit down" Now at this point my brain is racing and I know something is VERY, VERY wrong. My first thought is that something bad happened at the pool at the hotel. Mommy or Daddy, then I thought oh God one of the girls. I said, or maybe screamed "Gretchen WHAT!" "Renee is dead"
What I screamed, what, how? And my phone battery went dead. I was screaming, Sam was in the dark as to what had happened, I was dumping out my duffel bag on the kitchen floor looking for the damn phone charger. It was nowhere. Finally I called her back on Sam's phone. Or maybe she called his phone.
I learned all the sketchy details, she was murdered, a neighbor shot her in the head, yes the person was arrested. Nicki in Pennsylvania was the one notified as next of kin because they could find her phone number on Renee's cell phone as one of the last called and saved and she was closest to North Carolina.
Gretchen tells me Nicki was trying to call the hotel and tell mom and dad. I said, "they are in the swimming pool with the girls." We need to call Auntie Margret and Auntie Arlene to go there.
I knew they were at the cabins still, and so I called Uncle Joe. Told him what happened, he was very quite, then gave me the number to Auntie Margaret's cell phone, and told me he was on his way over to the hotel. I called auntie Margaret and she also said she was grabbing Auntie Arlene and heading to the hotel asap.
By the time they got there. Nicki had already told my parents.
And on the lobby telephone at the Americ Inn, on U.S. Highway 2, in their wet swim suits with my 3 girls standing there, my parents learned that their baby had been murdered.
So began the phone calls, trying to find out what happened, trying to get a hold of Renee's kids to tell them. I think it was 4 am by the time her ex-husband answered the phone and I told him to wake up, get out of bed I needed to talk to him. I told him what had happened and he responded with "what do you want me to do about it, I need to leave for work in a couple hours" I explained you need to get a hold of your children and tell them what happened to their mother. In the end it was me who had to make those phone calls.
We all had to tell someone, the police told Nicki, Nicki told Mom and Dad and Gretchen, Gretchen told me and Rita, I told Uncle Joe, Auntie Margaret and Renee's children. And I kept thinking, who is telling my kids?
And with that, began the real, true nightmare. If you think nothing is worse then having your sister, child or loved one murdered. Add in bitter, hateful children. Who used us for what they needed, then completely disrespected their mothers wishes and those of her parents and siblings, and nothing has ever been the same since.
Renee was born in Norway Michigan on July 19, 1962. She was always so proud to be a true "Yooper" She bragged about it. We were in Norway Michigan when she was murdered. And my parents who gave birth to her in Norway learned of her death in Norway.
I suppose that is the way Renee would have wanted it. She loved it there so much. She loved her family there, her cousins, her Aunties and Uncles, Grandma and Grandpa. There are so many more happy memories in our heart there. I must hold onto those.
That is what I was doing 1 year ago.
Renee is on the bottom of the pyramid, 2nd in from the left, between her cousins Danny and David. Now that she is gone, the pyramid doesn't even stay up anymore. See how important just one person is to a family.
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