At 50 years old, I have no interest in being anyone else—living or dead, real or imaginary. When I first read this question, my immediate thought was to be the 20-year-old version of myself. I wanted to have the experience I have now. Then I realized that I had to make those mistakes at that age to gain the experience I carry today. It’s those mistakes that shape our character and personality. Although some are more painful than others, they are the very ones that toughen the road of life. They prepare us for what lies ahead.

So, for one day, I want to be myself. With my successes and failures, virtues and flaws. And that is the gift we get each morning when we wake—the opportunity to take the day God grants us and make it the first of the rest of our lives