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

For me, being Catholic was who I was and who I am, just like I'm Irish and Slovak. It's just so ingrained in us.

Choas will come, calm will follow, and then it will start up all over again. The secret is to savor the ride.

Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

Even if you have nothing in your wallet, nothing can keep you from having a great summer. You can listen to crickets sing you to sleep, trace the Big Dipper, breathe in the stars, run through a sprinkler, host a cartwheel contest in the front yard.

It's scary to make major changes, but we usually have enough courage to take the next right step. One small step and then another. That's what it takes to raise a child, to get a degree, to write a book, to do whatever it is your heart desires.

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