One of my stepdaughters died last night. What I've heard is that her car went off the road into a creek or stream in either northern California or southern Oregon. She wasn't able to get out of the car and drowned. Undoubtedly more information will come out as time passes. What really matters is that I and those who knew her won't see her beautiful smile anymore. We won't hear her laughter, enjoy her wit, or watch as she takes the world by storm and shapes her place in it.

I've lost good friends to car accidents, random fatal diseases, and the myriad ailments that accompany old age. A few were people I considered family, but none were this close. Taarna's death would be a hell of a tragedy even if I didn't know her, but I was her at-home parent for a few years, and now I better understand how it feels to lose a child.

I was looking forward to hanging out with her around the upcoming holidays and moving further along that awkward getting-to-know-one-another road that is among the best possible outcomes between kids and their post-divorce stepparents, but there's no possibility of that now. No more hearing about her journalism classes. No more of her fantastic cooking. No more Harry Potter speculations. No more Taarna. She's gone, and the world is a darker place without her bright, growing flame.

My thoughts go out to everyone touched by Taarna's death. I'm deeply sorry for our loss.