Dawn Freeman

Living… in Slough, England, with her fiancé Lee. Dawn never thought she’d be settling down here. Of course, they could always move after the wedding, but Lee’s job is here too and he’s not the most adventurous type, so she might as well get comfortable.

Profession… receptionist at Wernham Hogg paper company. Like most people in the office, she settled for the paycheck and put her other ambitions aside once she met Lee, who works in the warehouse. She still doesn’t identify with her work. The job certainly doesn’t feel like a career, but just something she happens to be doing to pay the bills.

Interests… illustration. She hopes to do more than dabble in it, or at least she did before life got in the way. As she puts it, “I always wanted to be a children's illustrator and when people said, ‘What do you do?’ I would say, ‘Well, I'm an illustrator, but I do some reception work for a little bit of extra cash.’ So, for years, I was an illustrator who did some reception work. Then Lee thought it would be a good idea for us both to get full-time jobs and then you're knackered after work and it's hard to do illustrating. So now, when people ask me what I do, I say I'm a receptionist.”

Relationship Status… engaged to Lee, with reservations. Sometimes it’s like she’s trying to convince herself that marrying him is still a good idea: “A real relationship isn't like a fairy tale, if you think that for the next forty years, every time you see each other you're going to glow, or, every time you hold hands there's going to be electricity, then, you're kidding yourself really. What about reliability, or er, someone paying the mortgage, or someone who's never been out of work. Those are the more important, practical things, you know. In reality.”

Challenge… taking more control of her life. She’s on a professional path she has no interest in, in a relationship that is barely staying afloat. She’s traded passion for stability and constantly wonders if it’s too late to get a refund.

Personality… disillusioned. At times, Dawn seems to almost be comfortable in her discomfort. She’s barely 30 and is already resigned to a life of what-could-have-been. She’s almost convinced herself that she doesn’t deserve her ideal. Only Tim, her co-worker and friend, is telling her otherwise.