I have to admit that when I started reading 'Becoming', I didn't get it. I didn't get her. She was someone you envied in school, she was driven, she achieved things you wish you could, she's active, and she's a high achiever. She's a perfectionist.
I can't say I was anything like that at all.
I pursue things that made me happy and brought me joy. So, I was girding myself for the worst...like, oh no, I don't like Michelle Obama. LOL.
But as I continued reading, her love for her family really struck a chord. I will probably never really understand the kind of neighborhood she was living in and her family predicament but I can understand the love.
Education was important to me, but it wasn't THE most influential aspect of my teenage life. I didn't pursue it with the level of vengeance she did because she came from a different place.
If people talked bad about her talking about supporting black communities, then they're not understanding what she's trying to convey - her life.
She gave me a glimpse into the life inside the White House bubble I will never get to experience and the burden of being a public person.
Her nominal descriptions of gaffes and mistakes she initially made as a mom, woman, wife, and First Lady made her human in my eyes and heart.
Sometimes we forget that people doing these things are human and there's a part of themselves that they had to sacrifice to do what they are doing.
I especially felt her when she described her persistence in trying to keep life as normal as possible for her girls. She and Barack Obama chose life in office; her daughters did not. Along with the privileges and prestige came the loss of something we, the others, take for granted: normalcy and invisibility.
We don't really think of that unless we do something embarrassingly stupid in public and become what we call "Facebook famous".
As she depicts her life for us to see, sometimes I felt dislodged because I can't see it from her vantage point.
I can't imagine having to ask for permission and have schedules rearranged just to speak to my husband for a little while. I can't imagine having snipers on rooftops wherever I go. I can't imagine having agents following me around all day long and knowing exactly how long I've spent in the bathroom. I can't imagine that kind of life.
It must be suffocating and yet that was not how she described it. I am sure she had stronger sets of words for the rollercoaster 8 years in the White House but she practiced poised restraint, I am guessing.
What I didn't expect were the strong emotions she felt after what happened at Sandy Hook and other shootings that took place in America.
We all know tears were shed and regrets felt but I didn't expect the kind of effect it had on people with so much power.
The overpowering sense of being lost, empty, and angry must have been that much harder when you're at the top and thought there was something you could do to prevent something so despicable. The frustration, the guilt.
The feeling of not having the words and strength to comfort people who were affected. Not feeling strong or adequate enough to offer support even as the First Lady.
On another note, I found it amusing that she and Malia had to sneak past the security people just to get out of the White House to see it lit up in rainbow colors. Like naughty teenagers.
When she wrote about Barack Obama, it was about how focused and different he was from her. It made me wonder how Obama can be both efficient and laid-back at the same time. Maybe he was made to sound too perfect (except for the smoking and always being late part - LOL) - I appreciated the injection of lighthearted objections from her as his wife and life partner.
All in all, I had some key takeaways from it. It showed me what a real human she is and always will be.
It's a holiday for me over here tomorrow. Happy holidays and celebration of Good Friday!
XOXO,
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