Special Tuesday questions, Nicole Richie edition

I miss her.  I’m not too proud to say it.

For a brief moment, she was the object of our collective fascination.  And who could blame us?  There she was on a small screen in our homes, bringing her glamour and her insouciance into our lives.  Like a Diet Coke to balance out a heavy meal, she brought an effervescent sweetness with a hint of alluring artificiality.

In truth, I never saw much of the television program that catapulted her to stardom. Entranced by its sharp take on American bourgeois  life and by the delights of its protagonists, I knew I would become like a hapless viewer beguiled by the Entertainment.  For my own sanity, I tore my eyes away after only a few minutes of watching. It was… difficult.

Thankfully, she was everywhere.  Her elegant style.  The classy company she kept.  One could not escape the crystalline stillness of her gaze from many a glossy magazine cover.  I was comforted.

Alas, even the rarest bloom must drop its petals under the weight of time.  So, too, her fame has faded.  No longer does she perch atop the perilous wave of celebrity.  She swims toward it, to be sure, but sadly its crest now propels others toward the beach of notoriety.  Forlorn she bobs in the bay of infamy past its “sell-by” date.

Yet I miss her.  I do. But hope remains!  If Paula Abdul can have a career renaissance, then so can America’s quondam sweetheart.

So tell me, do you miss her too?  Do you miss Paris Hilton?