Your Life Awaits

At age 52, Maria says she's finally realized she's a work in progress. "I feel that I'm in transition. I'm becoming who I want to be," she says. "By the time I had four children, I thought it would be done. … [But] the idea that I'm not done—that I still have possibilities, that I still don't know what I'm going to be when I grow up—is liberating."

Maria shares her feelings in her latest book, Just Who Will You Be? . This little book, which started out as a high school commencement address, asks readers to answer a big question. "I think young people when they graduate are always wondering, 'Who am I going to be? What am I going to do?'" she says. "Then all the parents came up to me and said, 'Oh, my God. I'm going through that. I feel lost. I feel in transition.'"