Touching Lives

I've never been an Anna Nicole Smith fan. I guess I really didn't take into account that there would actually be people who looked up to her and admired her. To me, she always seemed like a bad parody of "White Trash Barbie". Not that I didn't feel for her, especially lately. No one deserves to outlive their children...or to be the one who finds her son dead. No one. My heart went out to her. She hadn't had an easy year. Add that to losing the Trimspa account and several other hard blows, and you really felt badly for her.

So when I heard of her death, I was a bit indifferent. My immediate thought was..."Aww, that's too bad." And I meant it. First she lost her son. Now her baby is going to grow up without her. But overall, it was surreal to me.

It wasn't until this last Friday, where at a team meeting I was holding, one of my employees requested we have a "moment of silence" that I realized that there were some people that admired her brash, brazen nature. And then hearing that one of the message boards I used to frequent were "bashing" her. Personally, I thought that was in poor taste. She may have been a bit crass, but I don't think she deserved that.

It got me thinking back. I realized I remember the first time I'd heard of Anna Nicole. It was when she'd married that old millionaire guy and his family sued for his money, siting that he wasn't in his right mind to will her all of his worldly possessions. And then I saw her in Playboy and though...she really doesn't look too bad for a "plus sized" model. And then there was Naked Gun 33 1/3. She cracked me up in that one. I saw it with my mom and two best friends. I remember admiring the way she could poke fun at her whole sex symbol facade and laugh.

I realized that even though I may not have thought too much of her, she did touch my life...even if it was for a few laughs. Her poor baby, she left behind. I guess I'm not so indifferent afterall.