woostify domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/latestwordpress/lonestar.a1professionals.net_public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131Review of Dallas philanthropist Donna Wilhelm’s new memoir<\/p>\n
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Some people find their life pathways early and stick to them throughout storied careers and long marriages. Most of the rest of us envy their luck, their successes, and their visible happiness, while wishing we could bring similar focus and stability to our own lives.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Unfortunately, many of us find ourselves on paths that fade sooner than expected. A career suddenly dies. A business collapses. A marriage fails. An accident or illness throws everything into turmoil and jeopardy. Feeling lost, unsure, and unfulfilled, we struggle to find new pathways that can heal and reshape our lives.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Donna Wilhelm\u2019s richly detailed new memoir examines both her \u201clifelong quest for enlightenment, connection, and a sense of belonging\u201d and her personal journey that became full of zigzags, reinventions, and unexpected twists before she finally discovered her life\u2019s mission.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Born in 1943, the Dallas philanthropist, arts advocate, and artist grew up in an immigrants\u2019 boarding house run by her Polish mother in Hartford, Connecticut. Her parents tried to keep secret that she had been adopted, and they watched over her with both overbearance and physical cruelty.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In school, she was a \u201clonely child,\u201d yet discovered she had a talent for art. Once she got out on her own, her life began taking detours: college student, corporate secretary, and \u201cwandering woman\u201d searching for adventures, meanings, and Mr. Right. Then: wife of a rising corporate executive, devoted mother, fiber artist, jewelry designer, middle-aged divorcee after more than three decades of marriage, and seeker of her birth mother.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Donna Wilhelm writes that because she \u201cinvested fully\u201d in the success of her husband\u2019s career, she \u201crelinquished building my own credentials and a professional career of my own.\u201d Her husband\u2019s climb up the success ladder required nine moves within the United States and overseas. \u201cEach of the nine moves took three years to settle in. That meant that during our thirty-two-year marriage, I\u2019d spent twenty-seven years settling in and only five years of feeling truly settled.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Very soon there would be different challenges to overcome. \u201cAs a consequence of identifying myself primarily through Bob\u2019s career and relying on his community status, I\u2019d lost my own identity and emotional well-being,\u201d she recalls. Also, by leaving money decisions to her husband, she had left herself \u201cfinancially ignorant\u201d and now needed to quickly learn how to manage her resources. To make matters tougher, one of her children suffered a serious medical problem, and Donna Wilhelm herself became a cancer patient.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Once she struggled past these difficulties and setbacks, she vowed \u201cnever to take my restored health for granted or to waste precious time.\u201d She also realized she now wanted to \u201chelp others make the most of their lives.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n