Karen describes her early childhood and family life growing up as one of six siblings in a Catholic household.  Karen attended Catholic school and graduated from Brookline High School.  After Karen's sister died at three and a half years old, the family moved from Brighton to Ipswich, and Karen's mother stopped attending church services for twenty years.  Growing up, Karen questioned the Catholic religious doctrine and would skip mass to go to Dunkin Donuts.  She enjoyed the community service aspect of religious practice and was involved in a youth group.  After high school, Karen went to nursing school and finished her degree in California, where she lived through the 1970s and was exposed to Eastern religions and spiritual practices.  Karen remembers a backpacking trip where she had a spiritual awakening, felt God's presence, and wanted to explore her spiritual feelings.  So she looked into inclusive Catholic churches on the Berkley campus, tried Presbyterian but felt it was too conservative, and began to explore Christianity more deeply.  Karen explains that Judaism played a role throughout her life; her first boyfriend was Jewish, and she was taught Judaism in Catholic.  After meeting her Jewish husband, Karen started taking conversion classes in 1982.  She recalls studying in Temple Israel in Boston, reading a great deal, and participating in one-on-one study groups.  Karen's parents attended her conversion, and her siblings have been supportive as well.  Karen talks about how her Judaism influenced how she raised her children, celebrated holidays, and other family traditions and rituals.  She stays active in a Rosh Chodesh Group and feels spiritually fulfilled by her conversion to Judaism.  Finally, Karen reflects on the experience of her adult bat mitzvah in 2005, the preparation and ceremony, and the transformative impact it has had on her and her connection with God.