Jenny Sanford is smart, rich and classy. A Georgetown grad and former VP of mergers and acquisitions for an investment bank, this mother of four boys had it all. Including a husband who chose politics with little notice, a husband who she supported by running his campaigns and being his advisor, a husband who very publically cheated on her.

I can imagine being married to and having three children with a loving man who goes off to war and comes back changed in a way that just doesn’t work, that involves violence - and needing to leave him. I can almost imagine the fear and sense of loss when he steals the children and flees the country - and having to fight long and hard to get them back.

Melissa, where do I begin? I’ve only seen you in concert once, but your raspy voice moves the very core of me. I respect the way you know who you are and live your life with such definition.

When I was very young I dreamed of being a professional philanthropist (frankly, I still do) – and Rania is just that. With her business background and her brains - it suits her very well. And then there is the added benefit that she can afford it.

This past month I’ve felt a profound sense of loss. It started at the end of a wonderful vacation in Paris when my laptop took a tragic, and fatal, tumble.

Imagine the shock of discovering you are really of royal descent, indeed a princess by more than state of mind. Sarah Culberson, adopted at the age of one by couple in West Virginia, had just this experience.

We all yearn to make an imprint on the world, make a difference, leave some kind of lasting impression. And most of us want that to be a positive change, to make the world a better place.

Thank goodness for of my good friend Karen, who had a period of being a bad girl herself. As did most of the interesting women that I know.

An amazing thing happened last week, justice prevailed and a talented young woman was set free. Roxana Saberi has lived a life that has been referred to as a “testament to diversity and democracy”.

Let’s just acknowledge that my mother is a freaking saint. When my husband asked my 98 year-old, Alzheimer-stricken grandmother (who was no saint) if I was a good child, she came to life, her eyes sparkled, she had her first lucid moment in years while she emphatically replied: ‘NO!’. She even chuckled knowingly.

As April draws to a close, we couldn’t resist one more mention of this lovely gemstone and birthstone of the month.

Today is Earth Day – what are you going to do about it? We now all know that the planet is chock full of limited resources and that some are more sustainable than others. Each little thing we do has an impact. What kind of example are we setting for our kids and what kind of mess are they going to inherit?

Yes it is tax day, and while taxes are no fun, they are most definitely the preferred one of the two famous certainties. This week we are celebrating both Lilly Ledbetter, as our Delamina woman of the week, and President Obama for signing into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act early in his tenure.