Karen somehow knew all along what she was born to do. Growing up as what she describes as “a small town girl from a proud Irish family” in the outskirts of Boston, she can be found these days as a comfortably retired school teacher living in a 55-and-older community in Margate just inland from the Atlantic coast of south Florida.

She’s come a long ways from her chilly New England childhood to a garden condo on a golf course in the Sunshine State but sometimes you can hear a bit of the Boston still there in her voice. Listening to her speak is a pleasant reminder that sometimes who you are and where you came from sticks with you. And in Karen’s case, you can tell that’s a something to be proud of.

Looking back now from the vantage point of a woman in her early Sixties, Karen remembers how when she was in her teens she served as a volunteer at a summer camp for handicapped youngsters. The experience taught her that working with special needs children was what she wanted to do with her life.

“Education was my calling,” Karen says, so after getting a teachers degree in college, she returned to that summer camp and became its executive director. Eventually, her life’s path led her to Florida where she worked for about 30 years as a teacher of children with special needs, before finally retiring but still doing some substitute teaching. These days, she spends time enjoying her own children and grandchildren, as well spending time with her circle of friends and just enjoying life. She likes doing her pool aerobics and tries to eat healthy.

Once she moved into her sixth decade Karen began to think about doing all she could to continue living a good life. “I want to stay sharp,” she says. “So I did my own reading and research, talked to my friends, and decided to give Prevagen a try. And I found that I’m already remembering better.”

Which is what you’d expect of someone who has known herself and what she wanted to do with her life, and did something about it. Her secret to living a good life, she gladly shares, is pretty simple. “If you can, be happy with yourself and who you are.”