Fresh Start Trilogy: Bonus

If you've read about my new Fresh Start series, you'll know that three very different women –Kenna, Olivia and Crystal – want to change their lives, each for unique reasons. Their meeting at New York City’s Sob Cafe sets off each one's decision for that much needed life change. Not everyone can take off caravaning in RVs across the United States from New York to Washington state's mountains, but these women decided to do exactly that.
While the setting is fictional, Fresh Start (the town) is much like other small towns in the area where I grew up.

JUST YOU (Fresh Start #1) Amazon and Other Places focuses on Kenna Peck, and I thought we might want to catch up with her in an interview. I should preface this with the Note that I already knew a little about Kenna Peck: At the time of this interview, she’s just removed her married name, Donovan, and reclaimed her maiden name, Peck. (After her marriage to Hugh Donovan, her husband became a partner in her father’s trucking business.) From her expression several times during this and other interviews, I suspect her emotions about Hugh run deep and she hasn’t finalized that chapter between them just yet— and I have to wonder the same about Hugh.

FRESH START Interview #1 KENNA:
Cait: Good morning, Kenna. Thank you for letting us come into your life and see how you are doing.
Kenna Peck: Hi, Cait. I'm so glad you're visiting, it's been quite the journey and I would so like to share it with you.
Cait: That's great! Thank you so much. Folks, we’re sitting in Goodman’s Emporium, Kenna’s shop, filled with Olivia’s sewing projects, a stuffed rattlesnake in that glass aquarium, and gorgeous handcrafted beadwork. Love these earrings and bracelets. Kenna has graciously offered me tea. The teapot and cups are from pioneer days and our napkins are hand-embroidered with bluebells like you might find in the mountains.
Kenna (smiling as looking around the shop): Our gift shop focuses on local talent. I’m so glad we can show off their work. Some people might consider the shop to be cluttered, but I’ve always liked old collectibles mixed with new things. The Goodmans, who owned the shop, are lovely elderly couple who can no longer run the shop. They collected so many reminders of this country’s history. Some of the those antiques aren’t for sale, like this rough wood pioneer table, or Mrs. Goodman’s big bread bowl. I have so many ideas for the shop—maybe I’m a frustrated advertising person, rather than my banking background. Basically tourists visiting the area can pick up mementos of their trips, plus old-timers like to stop by the woodstove and chat awhile. But the town is just perfect, with its old weathered board fronts and you can see Monty's mule hitched in front of the cafe across the street.
Cait: the town is truly picturesque. This is the Methow Valley right? Just up from the Columbia River? Lots of pine trees on the surrounding mountains, and I notice that the street names reflect the area, like Apple Street, when there are so many orchards around.
Kenna: We’re at a higher altitude than the what is best for the orchards you might have seen on the way up here. Typically, we have locals, hunters and skiers.
Cait: Mm. I’ll take this pioneer bonnet for my little girl, and that blanket for Mom… Well, let's get started, I know your time is precious and you have a lot to do since the three of you pulled your RVs into the small town of Fresh Start. Why exactly did you in particular decide that this dramatic change was necessary for you?
Kenna: A lot had happened in my life that wasn't positive. I'd lost a baby, gotten divorced and suddenly my father offers me a new start in these gorgeous mountains. We’re high in the Cascades you know, quite different from New York City. But after my parents were divorced, I traveled with my father in his 18-wheeler. That was probably one of the best times of my childhood. When his offer came up, how could I resist?
Cait: Tell us more… What was his offer exactly if you don't mind sharing?
Kenna: Sure. Dad loves this country. He’s retired and out somewhere in his RV fishing right now. He’s very attached to the Goodmans and not only purchased Goodmans Emporium, but their home, too. Basically, everything fell into place for me to get started in a new place without old painful memories of my marriage gone bad. It happens: Life.
Cait: Oh, I'm so sorry. But everything seems to have fallen in place for you, hasn't it? I mean a new place, a home, and a new business?
Kenna: It’s not easy starting a new life, but for me it was the smart thing to do as I couldn't deal facing my old life every day. The same buildings, the same streets and….
Cait: (Reading Kenna’s hesitation, I quickly guessed there was more, like the sight of an ex-husband who had caused her pain.) Not all women are as brave, or men for that matter. It takes a lot to set out like you did, Olivia and Crystal, too.
Kenna: There is nothing like having the best of friends nearby. When Dad's offer came up, I knew I had to share it with Olivia and Crystal. We were all just sitting around the Sob Café one night when I mentioned Dad’s idea and didn’t know if it was right for me or not. My mother and half-sister still live in New York. They weren’t happy with my decision. But this decision was mine alone, and the idea to change our lives just took off. And here we are.
Cait: Did you know how to travel in RVs before this? Did Olivia or Crystal?
Kenna: not a clue. I’d done a little bit with Dad because he liked to fish so we would camp sometimes. But so far as hitching up a camper – mine is a “retro” model – and actually using it was far beyond my experience. But the first thing that I needed was a pickup with enough pulling power. Just the mechanics of learning how to travel and set up my camper took time, but I enjoyed it. The salesman gave me the basics and that I was on my own, with Olivia's and Crystal’s help.
Cait: They each have RVs too, right?
Kenna: Yes, but not campers like mine. Olivia has a Class C, an all-in-one, and Crystal has a high-top converted van. They call my black pickup “The Beast”. We traveled separately during the day, but we spent lots of time together in the evenings. Olivia even picked up a few mail orders for her quilts from the other campers. Her portable sewing machine really hummed some evenings. I think she may work things out in her mind while she is sewing. You see that old treadle sewing machine over there? Olivia is having a ball with it. We all had a lot to sort out: sometimes together, sometimes alone. I worked on ideas for the shop, how to market it. Crystal was always upbeat and helpful and she sang around the evening campfires. 
Cait: That’s wonderful! But when you left wasn't there the possibility of snow and travel difficulty?
Kenna: We didn’t take chances. It took a good month to get here, and we had lots of help and advice along the way. Crystal’s van did break down a few times. I'll never forget the three of us pulling into Fresh Start just before sunset. It’s such a beautiful town. Did you notice the Lighthouse Motel just as you come into town?
Cait: Yes. It's just like a real lighthouse beside the vacant motel, quite unusual in the Cascade Mountains. I love the red stripes going around it.
Kenna: A big developer has purchased it. He hopes to build smaller homes for retirees in a subdivision near Fresh Start. It will be a big job, and bring a lot of business into town because of the construction.
Cait: That’s exciting. But what about you? Where are you living and what do you do when you’re not working?
Kenna: We’re all living together in Dad’s bungalo, and getting the shop cleaned and up and running is taking lots of overtime. Right now I'm just settling in, and I don't know for certain what I'll be doing in the future. I’ve always wanted one of those two-story gingerbread-type houses they have around here. Maybe I’ll buy one, and work is good for me. I think for Olivia and Crystal, too. Olivia’s quite the homemaker and cook, so we’re very comfortable. Crystal picked up a job at the radio station.
Cait: Yes, I heard her do the weather report. I noted the photo of you three and your RVs on the counter. You’re the blonde with short hair, Olivia has long black hair and Crystal is much shorter with red hair, right?
Kenna: Right. I had long hair, too, but decided to cut it when I started a new life. Cocoa Chanel has a great quote about that, something like: You know a woman is changing her life, when she changes her hair style. New hairdo, new life. Somehow it helped me through some painful moments, to see a new Me in the mirror.
Cait: Maybe every woman should try that sometime in their lives. Would you like to talk about the past, what brought you to the edge of making such a dramatic decision?
Kenna: No.
Cait: (Her answer was so flat, I sensed the pain beneath it and moved on.) I understand.
Kenna: (She looks out the window as if seeing another time before she answers.) My marriage didn’t work out. My ex-husband wanted one thing, I wanted another. We split. End of story.
Cait: A new locale will definitely help. You’re smart to change your life.
Kenna: (quietly studying tea leaves in her cup)
~~End of interview. We leave Kenna for now, but she’ll be back. I sensed that her emotions about her marriage and divorce ran deeply and that she wasn't ready to speak about them yet. She must have loved her husband very much, to experience this much pain and to take such a drastic move away from her past life.

EVEN MORE! You can find more info at my NEWSLETTER! That's all. I hope you enjoyed Kenna's interview, and come back for more about my Fresh Start Series?

JUST LOVE Fresh Start #2 (Olivia's story) can be found at Amazon and Other Places.

JUST US Fresh Start #3 (Crystal's story) is COMING SOON WITHIN A FEW DAYS!