Of the 7

  Two of the first three teachers in the list of 7 were named Barbara.  The last time I saw the first Barbara was a year ago last summer, at our annual lunch.  She was gone several months later, with little notice.
    I had not kept close contact with the second Barbara because she was already married with children when she joined our union of teachers and she taught at the junior high level, a different world back then.  I had not seen her for several decades, until a few months ago, in a place that was not her own.  Her health had failed her and she now resides in a facility.  She  has lost her regal bearing, but still retains the authoritarian tone which made her a successful junior high teacher.  She feels betrayed, by those closest to her, she told me, and said she'd explain,  in the privacy of her room, unwilling to air her hurt in public.    A sad overtone to her life, to live with a sense of betrayal.  Not so surprising, though, since the ultimate betrayal lies within ourselves; we are all subject to the same fate.