Ten years ago, I went to visit my dad in Australia. I walked to the edge of a cliff and looked over and tripped. I righted myself but my head was over the edge. No one saw it.

How many times I could have died before now, and in how many different ways. And yet I came close only once: a speeding sedan ran a red light, hit three other vehicles, and jack-knifed into my rear wheel split second after I’d stepped out of my parked car. A bystander described the scene to me later. “You were a millimetre away from losing your legs,” he said.

There are so many instances when I’ve come very close to death that it’s difficult to pick one.

In 2006, I went fishing for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico. On the way back, one of the engines caught fire and then we had one engine for 70 miles. Slowly but surely, we got to Baton Rouge in the darkness but then got very close to a very large passing ship – they didn’t see us and we didn’t see them.

The Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want.

Right now. I am loving my children’s ages – Wyatt is nine and Levi is six – and I wish I could freeze time.

I’ve been lucky. When I was a kid, I babysat and was a lifeguard, which I didn’t hate; and then I was a teacher, which I liked.

The state of our government and the direction that this crazy person is taking us in.

Euphoric and very calming.

My mother, because now I have two sons and I have help around me – including my family – I can't imagine having four little ones under the age of nine, as she did.