Not So Notorious KLC*

I feel so inferior — and it’s all Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s fault.

She makes me feel bad about myself. Not just because she works out way harder than I do (go find the clip on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and watch them exercise together).

Not just because she rocks a jabot** like nobody’s business.

No, she makes me feel bad because I just assumed she rose to the ranks she did because she didn’t have a family. I assumed she never juggled motherhood and a high-powered career. Wrong. She not only had a husband and two kids, but the equal rights trailblazer went to Harvard Law School while she had a TODDLER. AND, she stayed in law school when her husband battled cancer, caring for him and their daughter while also organizing his friends to collect class notes, which she would then type up late at night so he didn’t fall behind in his studies during treatment. Damn.

And I feel overwhelmed and sort of want to cry because I agreed to help chair the graduation committee for No. 3’s eighth grade year. In my defense, it is about as stressful as being on the Supreme Court.

So, I sit here at the computer, feeling a little — OK, a lot — like I want to crawl under the covers because I feel gut-punched by all that comes with a firstborn headed out-of-state to college. It doesn’t help that I’m staring right at a five-figure bill, for housing and meals, that’s just a mere drop in the college tuition bucket. Then there’s the kid who’s a high school junior and nowhere near ready to handle all that comes with that pivotal year and the baby, who’s finishing up middle school and headed to high school before we know it.

Everyone told me but I didn’t believe it: They do grow up.

So, getting back to RBG. How did I learn all those factoids? Well, not because we had coffee the other day. No, I went to the cheapie theater with No. 1 and saw “RBG.” You should do the same. It’s inspiring. Also, there’s movie popcorn.

*Those, in case you didn’t guess, are my initials. I dunno, that could be a book title, I think.

**Jabot = that doily she wears around her neck with her black judicial robe.