My friends started having children after college, while I was pursuing this crazy acting career and living hand to mouth. Plus, all my boyfriends were artists struggling to make a living. Having kids didn't make any sense - why would I take on more of a financial burden when I couldn't even afford a dog?

Obviously, it wasn't meant for me to die of cancer at 40. Every day my life surprises me, just like my cancer diagnosis surprised me. But you roll with it. That's our job as humans.

I was able to support myself by acting alone about six years ago. Until then, I was just scraping by.

It's hard to notice things without people noticing me and that takes some getting used to.

Coming home to my family afterward makes the work richer, easier and more fun.

But I've always been hard to cast, I've never been an ingenue, I've never been the romantic lead. I'm an actor; give me the script and I do what I do and hope it's good.

I wanted to act; that was my one goal. I wanted to devote all my time to acting and not waitressing or anything else.