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checking out the two bedrooms that I thought would work best for Sasha and
Malia, just down the hall from the master bedroom.

For me, the girls’ sense of comfort and home was key. If we pared back all
the pomp and circumstance—the fairy-tale unreality of moving into a big house
that came with chefs, a bowling alley, and a swimming pool—what Barack and I
were doing was something no parent really wants to do: yanking our kids
midyear out of a school they loved, taking them away from their friends, and
plopping them into a new home and new school without a whole lot of notice. I
was preoccupied by this thought, though I was also comforted by the knowledge
that other mothers and children had successfully done this before.

Laura took me into a pretty, light-filled room off the master bedroom that
was traditionally used as the First Lady’s dressing room. She pointed out the view
of the Rose Garden and the Oval Office through the window, adding that it gave
her comfort to be able to look out and sometimes get a sense of what her
husband was doing. Hillary Clinton, she said, had shown her this same view
when she’d first come to visit the White House eight years earlier. And eight
years before that, her mother-in-law, Barbara Bush, had pointed out the view to
Hillary. I looked out the window, reminded that I was part of a humble
continuum.

In the coming months, I’d feel the power of connection to these other
women. Hillary graciously shared wisdom over the phone, walking me through
her experience picking out a school for Chelsea. I had a meeting with Rosalynn
Carter and a phone call with Nancy Reagan, both women warm and offering
support. And Laura kindly invited me to return with Sasha and Malia a couple of
weeks after that first visit, on a day when her own girls, Jenna and Barbara, could
be there to introduce my kids to the “fun parts” of the White House, showing
them everything from the plush seats of the in-house movie theater to how to
slide down a sloping hallway on the top floor.

This was all heartening. I already looked forward to the day I could pass
whatever wisdom I picked up to the next First Lady in line.

e ended up moving to Washington right after our traditional Christmas
holiday in Hawaii so that Sasha and Malia could start school just as their new
classmates were coming back from winter break. It was still about three weeks