Urban Thought Collective

Michelle Obama is an awesome woman. In fact, she is the consummate Proverbs 31 woman from the bible – the ultimate helpmate.

She is a woman whose husband can trust her, who’s smart, gifted, talented, eloquent, strong, caring, confident, wise, supportive, entrepreneurial and respected wherever she goes. She is that woman who can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan, and never let him forget he’s her man.

With the purpose of her life seeming to be dedicated to serving others, Michelle seems to have no qualms about the sacrifices she’s had to make and from all accounts and observations, she does it all with wisdom, grace, style, determination, love, fervor and compassion. Formerly a top corporate lawyer, she chose to give up her high paying career to address the needs of her community, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t contributing to the household finances. I’m sure she was also bringing in some pretty decent money at the non-profit organization for which she was working, prior to hitting the campaign trail with her husband.

She takes care of her household, openly loves and takes pride in raising her children in the way they should go, and is there for her man—in every way. They’re friends, they’re lovers, and they’re partners in life, grounded in their faith and in each other. As a result, Michelle and Barack Obama are extremely successful individually and as a couple, and probably envied by many watching their personal and professional life.

As parents, their foremost desire is to ensure their daughters have a strong spiritual, educational and familial foundation. As a wife, Michelle is all that and a bag of chips and her husband knows it, even as Barack is her tall glass of chocolate milk and again, he knows it. All anyone needs to do is to look at the two of them together, she and her husband, Barack Obama, who will prayerfully be elected the next president of the United States, and you see the deep regard, love and passion they still have for each other after more than 15 years of marriage.

I love to watch them and I’m proud of the international visibility of a strong and successful African American couple, who are living and loving the way God intended — peacefully, passionately, prosperously and with purpose.

I love to watch their eyes connect as they speak to each other in a love language nobody else can decipher. I love to watch the tender way he touches the small of her back or holds her hand whenever he is near her.

I love that photo of them on their wedding day splayed out on a bench — obviously exhausted from the days’ festivities, but in sublime happiness. Then there’s the one that was on a magazine cover, where they’re standing close together with him slightly behind her, and it looks like he’s whispering in her ear – very possibly something naughty, and her eyes are closed and she’s laughing, obviously extremely tickled by whatever it was he was saying. I love the fact that they’re always laughing.

However, what I especially love is that she seems quite satisfied to stand strong both beside and behind her man, shoring him up when necessary, but doing it quietly and unassumingly — not in competition with him for the spotlight. She doesn’t have to be in the limelight…just when necessary, and then she brings her own strength, sparkle and ease to the challenge. When in the glare of the public eye, she knows what to say, when and how to say it. She’s got Barack’s back and with all the pressure they both must be under as he runs this incredibly exhausting, vicious, courageous and inevitably victorious race to the White House, this is no small feat. Yet, her real challenges are yet to come.

Michelle is a great example of the way wives are supposed to be with their husbands. Barack is a great example of how husbands are supposed to be with their wives — whether wealthy or not, they should be responsible, tender, loving, respectful, interested, unabashedly passionate and affectionate – in public and in private (although having some money wouldn’t hurt). He’s taking care of her in every aspect of her life and she’s doing the same for him. They may differ in upbringing and personality, and each has their own individual purpose, yet they’re equally yoked in many important ways, with the same vision for their family, community and the nation.

Senator Obama has been criticized for being too cool, too confident, too unaffected, unreadable and without fire. In the limelight, he reminds me of Morris Day and the Time’s “Cool.” Ain’t nobody bad like him.

But I’ll bet anything, that when he and his wife get behind closed doors it’s a whole different story. I’ll bet that if anyone brings out the vulnerability, emotion and fire in Barack Obama, it’s Michelle Obama. When it comes to each other, they’re living, laughing and loving out loud and they don’t care who knows it.

It’s a beautiful thing to see and we could all learn from it.

Norma Stanley is President/CEO of NFS Communications and Publishing, a multicultural marketing firm specializing in the African American and Disability communities. She is also the mother of a special needs child, and author of “The Elected Lady—Finding Victory in the Challenge,” an inspirational book for and about mothers of special needs children. Married to her high school sweetheart, they have weathered nearly 25 years of marriage, which has seen mostly bright and sunny days, with more than a few stormy rain clouds thrown in for good measure. Stanley’s thoughts on love and marriage are exclusive to www.urbanthoughtcollective.com.