To Sasha and Malia Obama, With Love

Thank you for gracefully hauling yourself onstage, even when you would rather have been…somebody nobody knows.

Olenoko contributor Cheryl N. Klufio offers Sasha and Malia Obama the missing vote of thanks, plus encouragement for us all to march on.

Sasha and Malia Obama, 2008, by Tracy Russo [CC License]

Obama Family Portrait, 2015, by Pete Souza for the White House [Public Domain]

Ladies,

We have thanked your mom and thanked your dad, but -- on behalf of women, men, and children everywhere -- I just wanted to take a moment to thank you.

Thank you for sharing your parents with us for eight long years.

Thank you for allowing us to watch the special, intimate moments among you that should have been yours alone.

Thank you for every time we altered their mood, and you had to deal with it.

Thank you for letting us crowd your memories.

Thank you for occasionally showing us, amidst your practically perfect growth in the glaring limelight, that you, like other girls and young women (and boys and young men, too), are human, not infallible.

Thank you for making us feel better.

Thank you for gracefully hauling yourself onstage, even when you would rather have been hanging out with friends, been curled up under your duvet... or simply been somebody nobody knows.

Thank you for every smile you flashed us, when beneath the weight of this life, a frown or a tear might have been near.

Thank you for the sweetness, the beauty, the grace, and the love.

Thank you for braving the strange Monday after, when, though everything has changed, you -- and we -- must march on.

Still. Do forge on, and even falter... but rise. Still rise.

And may every woman, young or old, rise with you.

With love and blessings from a woman who was once your age,

Cheryl N. Klufio
St. Petersburg, Florida
January 21, 2017

Women's March on Washington - St. Petersburg, Florida, Solidarity March, Jan. 21, 2017 [Copyright C.N. Klufio]

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Olenoko delivers fresh vistas on Africa, the Diaspora, and the World. Each week we serve up angles that have been missed and stories that have been lost. In the Ga language of Ghana, "Olenoko?" means "You know something?" We make sure you do. Olenoko: So you knOw. Care to share your story? Drop us a line at olenoko.know@gmail.com.