By Karen Kendra-

We all knew it was coming, but against all odds, we hoped for a miracle anyway. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, known with affection as "The Notorious RBG" was a diminutive, but imposing fixture on the Supreme Court of the United States for over twenty-seven years.  Most of us thought it was longer.  Her voice was at last silenced by the cancer that she had fought valiantly for years, while "going at full speed", to use her own words.

Many of us were busy with careers and/or raising children to have paid constant attention to her accomplishments as they happened, but when looking back at her achievements for equal rights for all, her influence spoke volumes.  Now she is forever silent, but judging by reactions to her passing, her voice will long be heard.

While many of us were busy with our own responsibilities, she was managing a marriage, a career, and a family against the wall of misogyny and politics.  We may have endured the same, but while we were distracted by our own issues, RBG was quietly working for us and our less privileged comrades.  They weren't just women.  They included men, people of color, people of different sexual preferences, and her commitment to women's reproductive rights was unshakable.

While we await her replacement to be announced, we know that hers is an impossible justice's gown to fill. There will be no frilly collar on a gown that RBG used to indicate her opinion on a court decision.  It is hardly imaginable that any other of the justices will dress up for a non-singing role in an opera.  We have lost a remarkable woman, who was full of life and love for her family, the law, her country, opera, and all of us.