Karen Lee

Midwestern, grassroots mother of three, blended family of five, wife, ex-wife, grandmother of seven, mother-in-law, sister, aunt, employee, and opinionated, but loyal friend. Early in adulthood, she learned to grind wheat, knit, sew, (underwear, too), can vegetables and fruit, and compulsively bake. But that ended when, at 39, she found herself divorced from a 20-year, dysfunctional marriage and had no idea who she was. For the next seven years she threw herself into self-inflicted divorce therapy, starting with private pilot lessons. Nothing like the threat of plunging to your death to set solid priorities. Which is why she switched to community college and a brief career in cosmetology. During this time, she began what she likes to call 'sport-dating.' This figuring out how faith, common sense, primal urges and moral conflict all force-fit into singledom was the biggest self-assessment of her life. Eventually, and against large odds, she was married to an adventurous engineer who accepted her proposal (!). And she began...