On Sept. 18, I re-posted on Facebook a photo taken on the second anniversary of meeting the Amazing RBG at a Lyric Opera Company event. Two days later I was shedding tears, listening to what so many of the humanitarian folks I have long admired said about what she meant to them and to the world.
I agree that RBG was indeed an icon in so many ways that it isn’t necessary to repeat their words of well-deserved praise as we all know these, but I want to add that she was more than a woman to be honored and put on a pedestal to look at and admire. She was a real caring human being you could talk to and know she listened to your words and felt your pain. We spoke about how we both loved the opera and Shakespeare, and also about her contributions to the laws that she knew had to be changed as we were both of an age when we had to face many hurdles to climb up the ladder to be heard.
I will always remember that she noticed the quote from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” that covered my iPad: “Though She Be But Little, She Is Fierce.” It spoke to both of us, so we bumped fists, but she added “Feisty” instead of “Fierce,” and the look on my face in the photo is because I burst out laughing.
We may have met as strangers, but I believe we said “Goodbye” as friends as she left to return to Washington because she had to be back for an upcoming vote.
Rose Meyer
Oak Park
