Anna, We Hardly Knew Ye

Anna Nicole Smith died yesterday at age 39. I didn't know her, but somehow I was stunned and saddened by her death. I guess the fact that she just lost her older son after giving birth to her recent baby, already had my heart feeling for her.

I know how hard it is to deliver a new baby and I know how exhausted and vulnerable you are right after that. To lose your adult son a few days after having a baby must have been crushing. I can't imagine the grief she must have gone through. And on top of that she had a brand new life to care for. A newborn baby needs their mother so strongly after birth. Under normal circumstances it takes everything you have to care for a newborn. To have to do that while grieving for your son, to whom she was very close, must have felt unbearably heavy.

Like everyone else I heard the rumors about her using drugs. I wasn't there. Maybe she did, maybe she didn't. Either way, she was a human being struggling like the rest of us to find her way in life. It sounds like maybe her struggle was quite challenging despite seemingly having it all.

I'm not here to defend Anna Nicole's behavior, but rather to express sympathy for a fellow human being who died too soon. I also pray for her daughter that she will be loved and guided well in life so that she may life a good life. Like Anna Nicole there are many people in this world who are struggling and like her daughter, there are many children who are so vulnerable and in need of loving care. I pray for peace and goodness for all these people.

My learning from this sad story is that I need to appreciate everyday with the people that I love. So simple, but often so hard to do in the hectic world we live in today.