Now that the last day of President Obama\u2019s presidency has passed, there will be a lot of analysis about his time in office. People will debate about his political wins and woes. But there\u2019s one part of his public life that doesn\u2019t need any debate at all\u2014his and Michelle\u2019s amazing example of what great love is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Barack and Michelle have been married for over 24 years. They first met when Michelle was asked to be Barack\u2019s advisor at a law firm where she was already practicing law and he was a summer associate. After several failed attempts from the future president to get a date, Michelle finally gave him a shot at romance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For their first date, Barack planned a date night out on the town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI took her to the art museum, at the Art Institute,\u201d he later said in an interview. \u201cI was trying to impress her and show her I was a culturally sensitive guy, and it worked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They were married October 3, 1992. And though their wedding day was long ago, they still remember their lifelong promises to each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s what we\u2019ve learned about living up to our marriage vows from Barack and Michelle:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Build a marriage based on mutual respect and admiration.<\/strong> \u201cWhen I first met Barack, we started dating, he had everything going for him,\u201d explained Michelle at a Morgan State University speech. \u201cAll right, ladies, listen to this. This is what I want you to be looking for. Yes, he was handsome\u2014still is. I think so. He was charming, talented, and oh-so smart, truly. But that is not why I married him. What truly made me fall in love with Barack Obama was his character. You hear me? It was his character. It was his decency, his honesty, his compassion and conviction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Support each other.<\/strong> \u201cIt’s not as if Michelle is thinking in terms of, ‘How do I cater to my husband?’ I think it’s much more \u2018We’re a team, and how do I make sure that this guy is together enough that he’s paying attention to his girls and not forgetting the basketball game that he’s supposed to be going to on Sunday?\u201d Barak said to Vogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, on an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show, Michelle shared a similar sentiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt has to be a true partnership, and you have to really, really like and respect the person you’re married to because it is a hard road. I mean, that’s what I tell young couples. Don’t expect it to be easy, melding two lives and trying to raise others, and doing it forever. I mean that’s a recipe made for disaster, so there are highs and lows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Understand your partner\u2019s goals and dreams and help him\/her reach them.<\/strong> \u201cI do care deeply about my husband. I am one of his biggest allies. I am one of his biggest confidants,\u201d Michelle said in an interview with Gayle King of CBS News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it goes both ways. In Oprah\u2019s farewell interview with the Obamas, the President said that he was extremely proud and supportive of Michelle\u2019s work while in the White House. \u201cWe all knew she was brilliant and cute and strong and a great mom. But I think the way she blended purpose and policy with fun so that she was able to reach beyond Washington, on her health-care initiative and her military family work, it was masterful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Commitment is about the little stuff too.<\/strong> \u201cThe journey that we\u2019ve taken together, the fun we\u2019ve had, the challenges we\u2019ve faced, the two beautiful children that we\u2019re raising\u2014I kind of give him a pass now when he leaves his socks on the floor or tells that story for the 100th time and wants us to laugh at it as if we first heard it,\u201d Michelle told Ellen DeGeneres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Practice gratitude and appreciation for each other.<\/strong> \u201cYou see, even though back then Barack was a senator and a presidential candidate, to me, he was still the guy who\u2019d picked me up for our dates in a car that was so rusted out, I could actually see the pavement going by in a hole in the passenger side door,\u201d said Michelle in her Democratic Nation Convention speech. \u201cHe was the guy whose proudest possession was a coffee table he\u2019d found in a dumpster, and whose only pair of decent shoes was half a size too small. So when people ask me whether being in the White House has changed my husband, I can honestly say that when it comes to his character, and his convictions, and his heart, Barack Obama is still the same man I fell in love with all those years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, Barack told Ladies Home Journal, \u201cThe quality I love most about her is she\u2019s honest and genuine… People like that tell you what they think and don\u2019t have a bunch of hidden motives. That\u2019s who Michelle is. She\u2019s also funny. She\u2019s the funniest person in our family.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6. Persevere.<\/strong> \u201cWe’ve been married now 20 years, and like every marriage, you have your ups and you have your downs, but if you work through the tough times, the respect and love that you feel deepens,\u201d President Obama told Barbara Walters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The First Lady also told The New York Times, \u201cIt\u2019s unfair to the institution of marriage, and it\u2019s unfair for young people who are trying to build something, to project this perfection that doesn\u2019t exist. The image of a flawless relationship is the last thing that we want to project.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of these characteristics and their devotion to one another help build the foundation not just for loving each other but liking each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ann Shoket, former Editor-in-Chief of Seventeen Magazine and author of the upcoming book The Big Life wrote in her latest Badass Babe newsletter about the first couple\u2019s romance when President Obama called Michelle his best friend in his farewell speech\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n “That\u2019s a super seductive idea\u2026 you find an amazing partner, make big plans together, find your passion, make a family, support his dreams\u2026 and, still, after 25 years, you\u2019re best friends. Friends feel almost more important than romance or love, doesn\u2019t it? More permanent, more flexible, more room to grow together and separately.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What the Obama’s relationship can teach us about making love last.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":14085,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[894],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-relationships"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nAt a glance, it\u2019s easy to see how impassioned Barack and Michelle feel about one another. Their love is palpable and it\u2019s because they fell in love based on who they are at their cores, not other superficial reasons like his likelihood for career success or her boundless beauty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nLife is going to throw you curve balls and what can make or break your relationship is how you deal with those unexpected life circumstances together. The support of your partner, and having each other\u2019s back, are some of the most fulfilling aspects of a committed relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nMichelle could hardly have known on her wedding day that her new husband would have his eyes set on becoming president. I wonder what that conversation must have been like at the dinner table. The ride to the top must have contained more sacrifices than we can even imagine and through it, Michelle was by Barack\u2019s side, propping him up when critics were cutting him down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n24 years together! Need I say more?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nIt\u2019s easy to be swept away in the grandiosity of what it means to be President and First Lady of the United States. That could go to anyone\u2019s head fast, but the Obama\u2019s revel in the little moments with each other and never lose sight of their humble beginnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nWhen life gets tough, you need to have the solidarity to persevere through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n