Tonight after work my husband came home and told me about the death of Anna Nicole Smith. I had heard on the television and through the internet that she had collapsed and had been taken to the hospital. I did not know that she had passed away. I was saddened and shocked by the news. I had always thought that she was so pretty. And so troubled.

I called my sister who was a frequent watcher of Smith's reality tv show. We talked about how sad it was that when the show was on, she was heavy, but she was somewhat on top of the world. We were happy for her with the anouncement of her pregnacy. Then shocked by the death of her son. And lastly very concerned by the looks of her in recent months during interviews and in her wedding photos. And now, she is gone. Which reminds me again of how rapidly change comes to us.

As I was thinking about writing tonight and thinking about Anna Nicole. Thinking about her as a mother. First off, she was part of a group that had their children at a young age. At times, a single mom. And recently, she was part of a group that had a baby at an older age. A young mom and a mother of advanced age as my ob/gyn would put it. So many extremes in her life. Both ends of the spectrum. The loss of her son in the same week as the birth of her daughter. The extreme age difference between her and her first husband.

In closing, I"m thinking about her baby daughter. Only an infant and way too young to remember her mom. With paternity tests looming for this baby who knows what lies in store for her. I just hope that she has someone to look out for her.