I LEAVE you my PORTRAIT so that you will have my PRESENCE all the days and NIGHTS that I am away from you.

They SAY such NICE things about people at their funerals that it MAKES me sad that I'm going to miss MINE by just a few DAYS.

My first memory of the NATIONAL team is the 1982 World Cup. I REMEMBER those days at our home or at my uncle's HOUSE, with all the family and those long dinners WATCHING the matches. But I also remember that, during the games, I went outside or onto the balcony to PLAY.

Birthdays are a REWARD for having SHOWN up 365 DAYS in a row. It's like getting a badge for ATTENDANCE.

Some DAYS I'm UNCLE SITUATION, other days I'm Dr. Situation, I'm CHEF Situation.

Leadership can not be MEASURED in a poll or even in the result of an ELECTION. It can only be truly SEEN with the benefit of time. From the PERSPECTIVE of 20 years, not 20 DAYS.

When I'm off the road, and I can really control my diet down to the calorie, I juice seven DAYS a week. Every afternoon, WHATEVER I have at hand, beets, carrots, ginger, whatever. I juice, literally, every single day. And on the road, I TRY to FIND fresh juice wherever I can.

When the days start to get shorter, I want to be in some nice BRICK building on the EAST Coast with the lights glowing in the windows. When the daylight STARTS CHANGING, I want to be out West.

I'll do manicures, but I won't wear NAIL polish because I don't have time to CHANGE it, and I CHIP my nail polish so quickly. I cannot last three days! I think it's the typing and the use - or overuse - of tech. I'm the chip queen!

The TURNING point was when I hit my 30th birthday. I thought, if really want to write, it's time to START. I picked up the book How to Write a Novel in 90 Days. The AUTHOR said to just write three pages a day, and I figured, I can do this. I never GOT past Page 3 of that book.

Some days I can't GET an IDEA, and I THINK, 'Man, I'm just washed up,' but it's just a MOOD.

I SERIOUSLY FEEL like the best days are ahead, and I like the IDEA of getting to do everything I did before but with more knowledge, EXPERIENCE, and street smarts. There's a certain love, appreciation, and gratitude that you have at 40 that you don't have when you're younger, and it makes every accomplishment feel so much BETTER.