Do you know how much work goes into getting our food to us? Farm to table? So much more work than I realized and still more than I know. That's how much.

Given how much time I spend wandering around consumed by how stellar life will be once I lose the last five pregnancy pounds, get my book written, get the baby to sleep through the night, that to realize quite suddenly that I am happy right now is miraculous. It stops me in my tracks.

Since Christmas, I have tried to slow down my pace. I am trying to take things more in stride, but doing so can be a very difficult job for a driven entrepreneur.

I've thought about this for a long time now. If there's one great thing about growing up without a lot of money or status, it's that everything you achieve in life is a bonus -- if you have the right attitude. At least, that's how I feel about it.

Those near and dear to us will feel our absence, and we trust that after we're gone, we will remain in their hearts just as those who have passed on from our lives remain in our own. And so it goes on this human journey.

When we think we're going to live forever, the little things get missed; they don't matter all that much. We forget how wonderful it is to taste chocolate, or listen to a great piece of music.

It took the loss of a close friend and young man of 23 for me to continue my pursuit of happiness. But it does not have to be this way for everyone.

It's ironic. Today I've thought about death, and I've been inspired to live.

There are only a few things in life that really matter. We only have the capacity to worry so much. I am done with the small things.

You'll never know when you step over the invisible line and the countdown begins, 365 days left, then ... but you can know, before and after you cross it, that you've remembered the big things.