Tribute from Tanya

Okay after bawling for the last couple hours like a baby I think I've pulled myself together enough to be able to share some random Renee memories.
The first time I met Renee was before she started high school in Riverton at a Youth Club Meeting in Mennville that Julie invited me to. I thought Renee was older because she seemed so mature and she was just so grown up and sophisticated and hung out with older cool people I guess.
I knew when Renee started in Riverton I wanted to be her friend. I asked her if she was smart and she kind of just brushed it off. But she was. She was so smart. She was the smartest person in our class. I kind of felt like she bumped me off my throne at first. I was not that humble;) but I was like, I can't even hate her because she's sooo nice! She taught me humility. To temper my ambition, I didn't have to be the smartest or the best, she didn't even care that she was. I kind of stopped caring about that stuff for a its own sake too.
I remember how she loved coffee and introduced me to cappuccino ice cream. I was over one time and she showed me how you could just sprinkle cappuccino mix on vanilla to make it. It was so good.
She liked to talk on the phone for hours.
She was all about Beaver Creek Bible Camp.
She loved candy.
WE were the worst students in Drivers Ed. WE talked all the time. Mr. K. even told us to shut up once. A teacher never told me to shut up before. It didn't bother Renee;)
One time when Dustin and I were talking about how beautiful our sisters were and how insecure it made us feel, Renee told us how smart Alayna was and that she skipped a grade and was so much smarter than she was and how the real good piano player in the family was Justin and how she just didn't compare.
She was so close to her family and her cousins were her bestest friends, Monique, Karen, etc.
She always kept in touch with friends from camp and around the world.
She'd take us on slurpee runs in her Tundra. It was so fun. We'd ride it over te bump in Riverton and go flying and shout Ri'ton!
She was a good photographer and yearbook editor. She put so much work into it and did so well.
Her and Dustin were such a pair. They were crazy. They would eat chocolate covered coffee beans before class with Mr. K and were banned from sitting in the front row. They also took a self study "Art" class in the lunch room one semester and spent the majority of the time goofing off.
Sometimes they picked on me but it was because they liked to get a rise out of me then insist I had anger management issues.
They wrote a short story about an inside out man because one day before a science test while we were sitting in the hall we were pondering what would happen if your stomach just continued to digest and turned you inside out!? (Get an ulcer like a normal person but for some reason we figured it would turn you inside out) anyways from what I remember I got to become the monster inside out person in the story and I was a bully so they wanted to give me a bully name. So I said "Martha". I just always thought of that as a girl bully name but Renee explained that was her Mothers name! Sorry:)
She wore make up so beautifully. Just simple light blush and demure brown eyeliner and mascara. She had good cheekbones and was so beautiful.
I loved her hair. Recently it was a different color everytime I saw her and she could pull off no hair better than Britney Spears!
We would argue with Mrs. E. about what we thought the theme in the short story was.
We argued with our whole class in science about the ethical considerations of cloning and growing people spare parts. I don't even care anymore if people abused the technology or the world became over populated I would've done it all.
I remember she had such an excellent memory. She could remember notes we'd taken from the beginning of the year!
She liked going to the Mexican restaurant uptown for lunch, or to the Arborg bakery.
I was so excited when she and Dustin and I got to go to mini-u. WE had so much fun that week. She dressed up as a punk and had little punk pigtails and I died my hair red and Dustin dressed up to and we went to seven eleven and you'd have sworn we were either drunk or high on something. Renee always was high on life and friends and good times and laughter. WE went to her cousin Krista's play at PET West Side Story.
I have a picture of her jumping out of the bathroom in that hotel for my surprise 17th party. That was so fun.
WE went to a retreat in Steinbach in a 70's Parisienne with velvet seats. It was awesome. We crimped each other's hair. I think we nearly drove Mark and Ryan mad on the way back in a snow storm playing the alphabet game giggling the whole time. She was the best girlfriend to get crazy stupid girly giggly with:)
At another retreat I got her to trim my bangs with nail scissors I think. She introduced me to Dutch Blitz.
WE took turns waiting in Trina's car and waiting behind the Winnipeg Arena for the bands to come out after the Nickelback concert we went to in -30 January weather the day before our Chem final in grade twelve. WE got McDonald's after and some boys I think were being stupid came in the wrongside of the driveway and had the nerve to be mad at us!
WE went camping in Arnes with the youth group in May and decided to try out the water. Never been so cold in my life.
She had the coolest hairstyle at Grad. She didn’t have an escort so I talked my little brother Barry into walking her in because it would be cute. I said, "Renee, Barry would love to be your escort." and she just laughed because he was standing there with his little ten year old head cocked to one side and his eyes reaching into the back of his head with his mouth open:)
I was sure lucky she didn't want to go to University right after high school because she probably would have gotten all the scholarships. She could've done anything she wanted to and she did. She wanted to help people find God and she did. I always thought of missionaries as old people but she was pretty cool.
It sucked she moved away though...
I remember her Mom made such good dinners when we came over like chicken cordon bleu.
You guys were so good to Tomoko:)
She got to go to such cool places like Europe, Cambodia etc. and wasn't even just being a tourist, she was helping people:)
I remember when she came back everything had to be spicy. WE went to Moxies once and she got this spicy dish she ordered about as hot as it came and she didn't think it was that hot but I tried it later as mild as it came and I nearly croaked!
She introduced me to Sukothai Restaurant.
She wouldn't order seafood here, not since she had it fresh on the West coast.
She was always up for cheesecake or ice cream.
One year I swore off cheese for lent and she swore off chocolate. So she was living with her aunt for senior year and she made a chocolate cake. My Amma made a cheesecake. WE brought a piece to school each and switched. Worked out beautifully:)
WE had so much fun doing karaoke at her eighteenth birthday.
WE were so excited she got to finish high school with us when her family moved to Winnipeg.
She was a true friend. I had a little fit in the fall of grade twelve and she and our other friends bought me flowers even when I wasn't talking to them. Talk about regrets...
WE went greek a couple times in Osborne Village and had dinner at Basil's and Papa George's. Of course it was so cool Renee got to go to the Olympics in Greece.
I remember she was proud of one of her scripts being selected to be produced at school last year. It sure sounded cool.
I remember freaking out about her relationship status on Facebook being not single 'cause she was seeing someone. She said he didn't really speak English and they had already run out of things to talk about when I asked her about how it was going.
She always saw the coolest movies, independent films...
She always came to visit me. I think she may be my only friend that has seen all the places I used to live in in Winnipeg...She was so good bout keeping in touch. I wish I could have caught her last time she was in Winnipeg, I wish I had a passport so I could've come see her in NY I wish I called when I could have:)
She was definitely an Osborne Village punk. It was so cool she cared to work at a Fair trade store in the Forks but it sucked they didn't appreciate her.
I think she kept in touch with Dustin better than anyone else from our class did which was awesome because Dustin needed a real friend ...and I'll try to do better now I can't think well she has Renee.
I wasn't even worried when I heard she had leukemia. I was like oh that sucks but I'm sure she'll be fine. And she was for a while and I really can't believe this happened.
It sure sucks she’s not going to get married, have babies, come visit me anymore, make a cool movie or TV show but I'm sure glad I got the memories with her I did.
I know it must suck so much worse for you guys but I hope this helps somewhat because I found talking with Dustin and laughing over memories of Renee helped me.
Well that’s really all I can think of right now. I will try send the pictures I have here but most of them are at my Mom's in Hecla. I'll see you guys on the weekend.
Take Care!
Love,
Tanya