Becoming

I loved this book. It was like chatting with a wise older friend about her life experiences (and I only read the words on the pages - if I can hear her this well through paper, I imagine hearing her perform the audio would be absolutely fantastic). She and her husband were so busy, and did so many things in such a short period of time. I'm always amazed by this when I learn more about presidencies.

What I actually want to say about this book though, is that Michelle writes so beautifully about grief. Obviously, this is not a book about grief, but there are so many moments - in between her writing about her family growing up on the South Side of Chicago, and about overcoming self-doubt, and working her way through two Ivy League universities and a law firm before swerving, and the exhausting behind-the-scenes of being a First Family - where you feel this undercurrent of grief. Her personal grief (and that of her mother and brother) at the loss of her father, who had MS that went untreated for many years; the end to his suffering and that feeling of living in a vacuum, going through the motions because nothing, nothing makes any sense. Grief for herself and her husband as she talks about the struggle for the birth of her daughters and the miscarriage that preceded them. Grief for the country - for children who did not survive school shootings, for children who were gunned down in the streets of Chicago, for black lives lost to senseless violence, for the racism our country continues to carry.

Her writing made me feel a little better about this place I'm in, though she doesn't mince words. But she also writes so beautifully about hope. There's always a lens of optimism, even through her dread of what her husband's being president would do to their family - optimism about what they could do better to help others reach their full potential and to serve people who need a hand, and to give kids opportunities through learning and feeling like the people around them care about their success. I am never going to be a high-powered career woman, but her life is an inspiration to me - that there are people who dream of making the world better, and then do it, knowing that change takes time, and choosing to take those incremental steps.