"We Have Dinner Together Every Night"

"We Have Dinner Together Every Night"

Saturday, May 23, 2009

"It's rare for most families to have dad at home for dinner, to see him in the mornings, to have him there when you go to bed at night, just to be able to have the casual conversations that happen about life at dinnertime. It's more normal than we've had for a very long time."

Michelle Obama is this week's TIME magazine cover girl. She talks about her life in the White House, putting her career on hold, and what it's like having her husband home for dinner every night. It's funny -- even though she's the First Lady, her life seems to be calmer and more relaxed than ours! When was the last time you heard of anyone having dinner together every single night? Granted, she's got lots of help, but one would think running the country might take up most of the day! How does she do it?

Michelle suspended her career in favor of helping her husband get elected. She has gotten her daughters settled in their new environment, and she plants gardens, invites teachers and friends over to their home, and visits them too. As for what she envisioned her role as First Lady to be: "... One of the things that I thought was, well, how powerful would it be for young girls to come into this space and hear from other really powerful, impressive, dynamic women and to have that conversation go on here in the White House? ... I always thought whenever we invited somebody in, I wanted to go out to their space too. I wanted that to be a mutual exchange, that it's not just people coming here where I live but it's me going out to where they live." Maybe we can learn a thing or two from Michelle, who seems to be at peace in her new role as political wife and mom.

Does Michelle Obama inspire you?

7 comments so far | Post a comment now >>

I think Michelle Obama is about as inspirational as Laura Bush, who was just as gracious, charitable, and beautiful. Yet, Laura never seemed to get any special accolades!

- jennifer

Posted 05/23/09 11:36 AM

I think Michelle Obama is about as inspirational as Laura Bush, who was just as gracious, charitable, and beautiful. Yet, Laura never seemed to get any special accolades!

- jennifer

Posted 05/23/09 11:36 AM

I think Michelle Obama is a good mom. That being said, I dislike seeing her lumped in with the other celebrity moms: one more example shoved in the average woman’s face to let us know how fat, unorganized, uneducated, and poor we are compared to her. In short- just let the woman be a mom,instead of using her as an example to make the rest of us feel bad about ourselves.

- stephanie

Posted 05/23/09 05:02 PM

Well you say “Granted, she’s got lots of help, but one would think running the country might take up most of the day! How does she do it” Last I checked she was not elected to run the country.

- Anonymous

Posted 05/23/09 10:31 PM

i love michelle obama,i dunno,there’s something about her. i’m from the philippines.

- luisa

Posted 05/23/09 11:37 PM

Please people let us never forget that she has made many anti-white comments which she has yet to retract, explain or apologize for.

- anony

Posted 05/24/09 11:36 PM

She has a full compliment of staff. Life is easy for her. I don’t feel that she needs to put in much effort at all, other than showing up for the appointments her staff has arranged for her.

- GPC

Posted 05/25/09 11:47 PM