I used to wonder if I was a little out of place because my life didn\u2019t fit the stereotypical persona. However, I don\u2019t think I will ever fit in with a specific set of rules.\u00a0I have always just been me, take it or leave it. I always knew that I would become successful but it had to be on my time, not society\u2019s.\u00a0I think everyone should work according to their needs and should figure out what they want out of life for themselves.<\/p>\n

I am currently the stepmother to two amazing young adults of whom I am especially proud.\u00a0My husband and I recently celebrated 13 years of marriage and just adopted a new doxie, Limoncello, to our family. She has been a blessing since losing my 16-year-old dachshund, Piper, last year. Piper was my mainstay through many of life\u2019s challenges and losing her was one of the most difficult things I have endured.\u00a0I realize many feel pets aren\u2019t people, but in my case they are. My husband and I cannot have children together so fur-babies are our babies.<\/p>\n

Today I am a counselor and I love my career. I work with young children and families. While my job is most often difficult, those brief moments of success in helping children and families overcome life\u2019s challenges is the most rewarding experience. A professor in my master\u2019s program once told me that counselors are \u201cthe wounded healers.\u201d\u00a0I believe that is true. However, I believe wounds heal and we can move on.\u00a0I am such proof of that! I am so thankful for all of the experiences I have been afforded and I hope that those experiences in some way help others.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

*Our little love, Limoncello<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

*School sidekick Andrew (couldn\u2019t do what I do without him)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

*Hubby Ryan and my stepbabies Hannah and Connor<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

*Stay tuned for more posts in this special\u00a0blog series celebrating<\/strong> our many different views of 39ish Life<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Love more,<\/p>\n

Dana<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My 39ish life is likely different from many of those I know; I am not the typical 39-year-old woman. I don\u2019t have my own children and I do not yet own my own home (and I won\u2019t until my Ph.D. is finished, that\u2019s my reward). I am on my second marriage and I am a student working on her Ph.D. I used to wonder if I was a little out of place because my life didn\u2019t fit the stereotypical persona. However, I don\u2019t think I will ever fit in with a specific set of rules.\u00a0I have always just been me, take it or leave it. I always knew that I would become successful but it had to be on my time, not society\u2019s.\u00a0I think everyone should work according to their needs and should figure out what they want out of life for themselves. I am currently the stepmother to two amazing young adults of whom I am especially proud.\u00a0My husband and I recently celebrated 13 years of marriage and just adopted a new doxie, Limoncello, to our family. She has been a blessing since losing my 16-year-old dachshund, Piper, last year. Piper was my mainstay through many of life\u2019s challenges and losing her was one of the most difficult things I have endured.\u00a0I realize many feel pets aren\u2019t people, but in my case they are. My husband and I cannot have children together so fur-babies are our babies. Today I am a counselor and I love my career. I work with young children and families. While my job is most often difficult, those brief moments of success in helping children and families overcome life\u2019s challenges is the most rewarding experience. A professor in my master\u2019s program once told me that counselors are \u201cthe wounded healers.\u201d\u00a0I believe that is true. However, I believe wounds heal and we can move on.\u00a0I am such proof of that! I am so thankful for all of the experiences I have been afforded and I hope that those experiences in some way help others. *Our little love, Limoncello *School sidekick Andrew (couldn\u2019t do what I do without him) *Hubby Ryan and my stepbabies Hannah and Connor *Stay tuned for more posts in this special\u00a0blog series celebrating our many different views of 39ish Life. Love more, Dana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[23],"tags":[139,18,19,21,146,147,148],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.39ishlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/39ishChrista4-e1497987574276.png?fit=2005%2C2421&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7h0AN-3g","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.39ishlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.39ishlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.39ishlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.39ishlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.39ishlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.39ishlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":528,"href":"https:\/\/www.39ishlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202\/revisions\/528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.39ishlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.39ishlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.39ishlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.39ishlife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}