I love to be loved, who doesn’t? I love being in love. Listening to people’s love stories especially the struggle ,which is usually the best part of every story, well at least for me, gives me a boner. I’m the type of girl who knows every YouTuber’s ,whose channel I’ve subscribed to ,success story and love story at my finger tips. I enjoy telling these stories. I learn from their stories. Telling and listening to these stories makes me so happy!
Ironically though, I can’t recall the last time I read a romantic novel. They don’t intrigue me as much. To me they feel too fictional and unreal.
Another thing I find joy in is a good book ,now imagine a good book with a love story that has it’s beauty and struggles, I’m talking about, Becoming by Michelle Obama. You must know by now how much joy talking about this book brings me. Michelle’s success story is at my finger tips, her love story? I’m almost releasing a song about it.
From her first boyfriend before college, David, who she broke up with after she joined college. “I wanted to believe that there was a guy who I would materialize and become everything to me, who’d be sexy and solid and whose effect would be so immediate and deep that I’d be willing to rearrange my priorities. It just wasn’t the guy standing in front of me right now.” She says
She later dated a footballer in college who she later dumped because he was unambitious and just wanted to be a footballer.
First forward to years later, she’s a lawyer at Sidley and Austin law firm. She’s given an associate to mentor who has an odd name, Barack Obama. Word had already spread that he was gifted, brilliant and cute. Michelle was skeptical of all these. Barack was late on his first day of work. Tardiness drove Michelle crazy.
Michelle and Barack clicked immediately though, they became good friends and developed a beautiful work relationship. Their mindests were alike although they were different in terms of personality. Michelle was pretty much outgoing, Barack on the other hand preferred a night in with his books. He read alot. Michelle drugged Obama for happy hour one day. She realized he was not a Happy hour guy. The next time happy hour rolled around, she left him in the office. Michelle loved Mac and cheese, Barack couldn’t stand it. Barack liked dark, dramatic movies while she went all in for rom-coms.
Michelle was starting to develop feelings for Barack, he asked her out eventually, she feigned shock! “You know I don’t date and I’m your advisor.” Michelle responded.
They were very comfortable around each other. They played alot and gossiped people from the office together. Their first date was an ice cream date. That was when they had their first kiss. Barack actually asked her if he can kiss her! Very impressive!
From that first kiss there was no looking back! They began spending nights at Barack’s apartment. Michelle says that Barack wasn’t like anyone she’d dated before because he told her she was beautiful and he was openly affectionate, this has been evident throughout the years, you can tell by the way he talks about her. This must have been Michelle’s love language. Barack had learnt to speak it. Michelle had hit! Can we talk about love languages on another blog post?
They talked endlessly over leisurely walks and date nights that seemed short to them but in reality went on for hours. She loved the slow roll of his voice and how his eyes softened when she told him a funny story.
Barack was still in Havard, studying law. After his summer holiday he had to go back to school. After the few months they’d spent together, Michelle wasn’t too happy when Barack told him that he’d be communicating through letters since he was not a phone guy. “If I’m not talking to you, I might have to find another guy who will listen.” She said it as a joke but meant every word.
Obama all of a sudden became a phone person, they always come around when they are ready to commit ladies. Their feelings stayed steady and reliable as months passed. Michelle never questioned their love.
Michelle would visit Barack sometimes in school when she was out on official duties. The first time she went there, Barack picked Michelle from the airport. Barack drove a car he’d bought using his student loan. It was a ‘shameful’ car with a rusted out four inch hole on the floor. Michelle was shocked , she remembers asking him, “you drive this thing?” It hit Michelle then that this guy might never be rich but she was in love and content. Barack was having a big impact in her life, she started keeping journals like him. She’d rarely stay out late on night outs instead she’d prefer a night in of reading at home. Michelle says that co-existing with Barrack’s strong sense of purpose, sleeping in the same bed with him, sitting at the breakfast table with him was something too much to adjust to, not because he flaunted it exactly, but because it was so alive.
Michelle realized that she hated being a lawyer even if she was good at it. It was a hard thing to admit considering how hard she worked and how in debt she was, because student loans! She was in love with a guy whose forceful intellect and ambition could possibly end up swallowing hers. She wanted to be on her feet and that entailed her looking for a new profession of which she had no idea what she wanted to do. On asking her mum, her mum told her to make the money first and think of her happiness later. Luckily, Barack advised her to go ahead and quit and that they’d figure things out along the way. Barack later on ended up working extra jobs and writing books in at some point in their marriage since Michelle’s salary couldn’t do much for them after she quit working at the law firm. Such pure love!
The way Barack proposed is what still amazes me to date. They had gone for dinner to celebrate the fact that Barack had finished his bar exams. Bar exams is a big deal to anyone in the law profession. Michelle had failed her bar exams the first time she attempted them. She expected Barack to prepare more but she knew better than to impose this on him based on her experience. She was making peace with the fact that the two of them were two different individuals. He passed the bar exams anyway. Michelle describes Barack as a very smart person. Michelle doubts she can ever be as smart as he is.
On the night of the dinner, Barack raised the subject of marriage. This got to Michelle since Obama and her had different views on marriage. Barrack viewed marriage as unnecessary whereas Michelle viewed marriage as a way of formalizing their commitment from her upbringing. They quarreled over this at dinner. The waiter came around holding a dessert plate, covered by a silver lid . He slid it in front of her and lifted the cover. She was too angry to even look down but when she did, she saw a dark velvet box with a diamond ring and Barack down on one ring. She later learnt that Barack had gone to her mum and brother to ask for their approval, such a gentleman!
In the period they were engaged, they took a vacation to Kenya, Barrack’s Homeland. Who said our men are not romantic?😂. At some point they had a fight. Michelle can’t remember what the fight was about. She however wrote on her journal, “I’m so angry at Barack, I don’t think we have anything in common!” She must have been very angry …lol. They resolved their differences and enjoyed their stay in Kenya.
On going back home, they tied the note on a sunny Saturday, October, 1992. This was a beginning of a beautiful journey. They struggled getting kids, they got through together. They had challenges here and there which is normal but they fought through together.
Finally Barack Obama had this wierd dream of becoming president of the United States. That sounded like a joke to Michelle. He was a black man whose roots were traced back to Africa, Kenya. Michelle voiced her opinion but supported him however because what’s the point of a significant other who doesn’t support your wildest dreams?
The campaigns were crazy. They also strained their finances. Michelle was mersmerized by the huge number of supporters they accrued. Barack in his interviews says that Michelle is very good with people and this helped in his campaign for presidency. Many sleepless nights, frustrations and tears later, Obama was president of the United States of America, with Michelle as the first lady! They had done it! Talk of winning in life together!
Love is a beautiful thing. Good guys still exists, they may not be as monied but they have a vision. Nice ladies still exists, they are hardly impressed by monetary things but by character and ambition.
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