I’m Karen. That is my real name; it’s easier for me to remember that way. If I had decided to use an alias for this journal, I might have chosen Susan Ellen, as that’s what my mom planned to call me before she decided it would be too much of a mouthful when combined with our last name. (She did get to use part of the name a couple years later; my first dog, a German shepherd, was called Susie.) Since Karens abound, I’m also known as KarenD, and once, when I worked in an office with a Karen B. and a Karen E., I became Karen #3, to avoid the confusion caused by “D” and “B” and “E” all sounding the same when shouted over cubicle walls. Of course, we often got confused about who was which number, so I probably should have just changed my name to Lulu or Traquita at that point.
I’m in my mid-soon-to-be-late-forties, but do not yet consider myself middle-aged, as I plan to live to be 107 at least. I think I have a pretty good chance of succeeding; my maternal grandmother reached her mid-nineties (no one was quite sure about her age, including her, since she’d lied about it for so many years).
I’ve lived in the United States my whole life. I grew up near Chicago, Illinois, and have lived in Michigan since I came here for college. I’m in the Detroit metro area now, living in a subdivision in a suburb with my husband, Mr. Karen (not his real name), whom I met in high school and have been married to since 1986. We have no pets or children. We have had guinea pigs as pets in the past and might one day add other furry friends to our family. We considered the children question and decided against having any of our own.
I work for a small software company, Purple Systems (not its real name), writing software that’s delivered over the internet. My current title is Senior System Engineer, which seems a bit odd to me as there are no Junior System Engineers anywhere about. I’ve been with Purple Systems for ten years now and hope to be here until I retire, as it’s the best place I’ve ever worked. In my pre-programming professional life, I was various flavors of accountant: CPA, auditor, corporate general ledger worker bee, etc.
When I’m not at the office or doing necessary life maintenance tasks like laundry and grocery shopping, I like to indulge my love of color by making quilts and knitting various things and painting my toenails. I also like to get out and see new places; Mr. Karen and I believe in using all our vacation time every year. We’ve each been to 49 of the 50 states (still need Hawaii) and several countries outside the U.S. (he’s got a few more than I do). In recent years, somewhere between a third and a half of our vacation days have been used to go out west to ski the mountains there, as we do not have any proper ones here in Michigan. Should we be so blessed as to make it to retirement age in good health with sufficient assets on hand, I expect we’ll travel a lot more than we do now, because as many places as we’ve seen there are so many more on my wish list.
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