With her memoir, Becoming, not out till November 13, Michelle Obama is treating us to some sneak peaks from the story of her life. The former First Lady has opened up on Instagram, sharing pictures from her childhood, wedding day and first day at Princeton university.
Not only has she delighted us with beautiful throwbacks, but lengthy captions too detailing how she felt at that time in her life. Giving us an insight into her journey from a working class neighbourhood in Chicago to the White House, she has pinpointed some key moments in her life and gave followers some amazing advice.
The first image she shared was from her family home, which she describes as a ‘cramped apartment’. Her caption read:
“Over the next few days, I’ll be sharing some photos and memories from my book, BECOMING. My father, Fraser, taught me to work hard, laugh often, and keep my word. My mother, Marian, showed me how to think for myself and to use my voice. Together, in our cramped apartment on the South Side of Chicago, my family helped me see the value in our story, in my story, and in the larger story of our country.”
One of our favourite images was her outside Princeton University on her first day, where she recalls being scared and never having stood out because of her race before. Michelle has previously been very vocal about how Princeton was ‘infamous for being racially the most conservative of the Ivy League colleges’ and even had roommates whose parents attempted to have her moved because of her race. She captioned the image with:
“This is me at Princeton in the early 1980s. I know that being a first-generation college student can be scary, because it was scary for me. I was black and from a working-class neighborhood in Chicago, while Princeton’s student body was generally white and well-to-do. I’d never stood out in a crowd or a classroom because of the color of my skin before. But I found close friends and a mentor who gave me the confidence to be myself. Going to college is hard work, but every day I meet people whose lives have been profoundly changed by education, just as mine was. My advice to students is to be brave and stay with it. Congratulations to the Class of 2018! #ReachHigher”
Of course, the world swooned when Michelle uploaded her wedding day image with Barack Obama. According to her, the wedding was almost ruined by Barack waking up ill, she said:
“You can’t tell it from this photo, but Barack woke up on our wedding day in October, 1992 with a nasty head cold. Somehow, by the time I met him at the altar, it had miraculously disappeared and we ended up dancing almost all night. Twenty five years later, we’re still having fun, while also doing the hard work to build our partnership and support each other as individuals. I can’t imagine going on this wild ride with anybody else.”
Yet another adorable family candid, Michelle shared her experience of living in the White House, especially with children that her and Barack wanted to raise to be grounded. The Obamas officially moved out of the White House last year. in Her caption read:
“Home has always been where our family is…It hasn’t mattered whether we’re lounging on a couch in Chicago’s Hyde Park or, as we are here, in the White House. We did our best to make the White House a comfortable place where our girls could climb trees and host slumber parties, where we’d have dinner together as a family, and where we tried to live by the values our parents instilled in us.”
We can’t wait to see what other images Michelle uploads in the run up to her memoir’s release. Keep checking back here for updates…
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