This was a GREAT read!
I enjoyed it, start to finish. I'm not a US citizen, so I've only seen glimpses of her accomplishments on social media, but I still got infused with the sense that's she's the 'mother' we'd all want.
Reading her story I've become a fan of who she is and her life values. She's someone who had to work her way to get where she was, even before she met Obama. The fact that she can call herself the first black First Lady has been as much a game of chance as winning the lottery, one that she wasn't even trying to win.
If you read this, expecting a close up view of the 44th president of the United States, then you'll be mistaken. Even though she paints a picture of her husband that humanizes him, without criticizing his decisions. I do realize that her story doesn't show many relationship highs and lows. It's a thin thread to walk, to tell your own story while doing justice to those that joined in that journey without losing one's identity. She probably omitted some of the bad stuff, but in my opinion she gets away with it. Her book reads like a motivational essay and I just got happy reading it.
I'm convinced she's a confident (not bossy ^^) woman, filled up to the brim with compassion and love for those who need it. A woman who has put herself through school, ultimately becoming a laywer and later on discarding the quick way to getting rich and turning an eye to where help was needed in her community.
When she got children she faced the same choice most new mothers face. How can we combine our love and devotion for our kids with a career that makes us feel accomplished? She doesn't skirt around the subject and many times I felt joyed and sadly happy because many of it is so relatable, but women just don't share enough of the bad stuff that happens. Keeping up appearances while slowly dying inside.
This book is infused with that love and understanding she has for the people around her, mainly Barack, Malia, Sasha, her brother Craig and her mother, while being her own worst critic. Reading how she jumped every hurdle makes me want to try harder as well. Seeing how she had to make hard choices of which she couldn't predict the outcome, challenges me to try to make some of those same choices instead of choosing the safe and predictable.
The fact that she can alter anyone's mindset through the printed word, by telling her own story, tells you what for a wonderful person she must be, with enough insight that sharing a story means sharing so much more than that.
Michelle, I'm glad you decided to write up your story up until now. I've enjoyed it tremendously and I wish nothing but good for you and your family!
