To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written.

There's so much living to be squeeze into the cracks of one little day. You can make someone laugh, smile, hope, sing, think.

We want someone else to act. But miracles aren't what other people do. They're what each of us does. They're what happens when ordinary people take extraordinary action. To be a miracle doesn't mean you have to tackle problems across the globe. It means making a difference in your own living room, cubicle, neighborhood, community.

When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

Sometimes you have to disconnect to stay connected. Remember the old days when you had eye contact during a conversation? When everyone wasn't looking down at a device in their hands? We've become so focused on that tiny screen that we forget the big picture, the people right in front of us.

A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.

It's OK to let your children see you cry.