Everyone is taught from a young age that there are two things we should be mindful of before we speak: What we say, and how we say it.
I think, after hearing former first lady Michelle Obama talk about the burdens of motherhood, we can decisively add a third leg to this stool: It matters when you say it, too.
For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, Michelle Obama — like every person with a modicum of fame, a microphone, and some free time — is now a podcaster. This seems more like a vanity project, since I’ve never found her “IMO” podcast with her brother Craig Robinson particularly necessary listening except when something goes very wrong. But she’s kept at it, for better or for worse.
And being a former first lady, not to mention someone who repeatedly gets mentioned in potential presidential candidate speculation, she gets big-name guests. In this case, it was Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show,” who talked, lovingly, about missing the routines of fatherhood once his children moved out of the house.
“You obviously miss, you know, the energy and excitement of the kids being around is so incredible,” he said.
Michelle’s response to that?
“I don’t. I love them. I’m going to see them tonight for dinner. I love them,” she said. “But, you know, Barack cried when they went to college. I was like, ‘Bye, goodbye.’
“Now I know Friday nights aren’t wrecked with terror and fear about, ‘Where are you? Where are you?’” she continued. “I love their emancipation and growth.”
Stewart seemed to realize that maybe this didn’t come across so well and tried to save his host: “The thing I miss, though, is the job. Like, don’t you miss—your kids are still in high school, so it’s still a job. Like, it gave a meaning and a pattern to my life.”
Nope: “I’m good,” Michelle said.
She said fathers “can be that way” because mothers — presumably including herself — have more dealings with their children at a young age.
“I mean, I’ve had so much quality time with my children,” she said.
Thus, she said, she now had relief from the drudgery having to have them to worry about.
Hellbound and Down 