What is your idea of perfect happiness?
At the kitchen table, laughing with my daughters.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
I can be a sore loser and an obnoxious winner.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Pretentiousness.
What is your greatest extravagance?
My red Thunderbird.
What is your current state of mind?
Exhausted.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Inner peace.
On what occasion do you lie?
My parents don’t need to know everything.
What do you dislike most about your appearance?
My chewed-up fingernails.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
Integrity.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Humor.
Which living person do you most admire?
Paul Farmer.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
“Honestly, you guys … “
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My daughters, Ellie and Carrie.
When and where were you happiest?
I had just brought Carrie home from the hospital, and she, Ellie, and I were taking a nap while my husband, Jay, was playing a Chopin nocturne on the Steinway we had bought each other for our birthdays.
Which talent would you most like to have?
I would sing like Ella Fitzgerald.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I’d grow six inches.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Raising awareness about colon cancer.
If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be?
Thomas Jefferson.
Where would you like to live?
New York City or Tuscany.
What is your most treasured possession?
My grandmother’s pillbox collection.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Helplessness.
What is your most marked characteristic?
My gummy smile.
Who are your favorite writers?
Edith Wharton, Carson McCullers, Harper Lee, John Steinbeck, Philip Roth.
Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Mulan.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Amelia Earhart.
Who are your heroes in real life?
My parents, cancer researchers, and Dara Torres.
What is your greatest regret?
Not telling my husband I loved him 20 times a day.
How would you like to die?
Quickly.
What is your motto?
“Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”
