Photo: Thinkstock

By now everyone knows about Michelle Obama’s either getting-away-from-it-all or media-manipulating shopping trip to Target last week. A photographer captured the usually-glamorous first lady in classic “I’m famous, don’t look at me please” garb – sunglasses, ball cap – pushing one of those bathtub-sized red carts through the store. I have to admit, what interests me about this is not the very appealing idea that the Obamas are in reality just like us, or even the implication that what’s good enough for me is good enough for the first lady’s family. (I mean, of course! Target has some fashionable stuff, am I right?) What really struck me was the relaxed expression on Mrs. Obama’s face.

It may seem strange, but Mrs. Obama and I actually have a lot in common. We are both very busy.  She spends her days promoting her Let’s Move! Campaign to get kids to exercise and eat good food; I spend my days trying to get my toddler to eat any food that’s not a Cheerio. Mrs. Obama meets and greats foreign dignitaries; I often welcome strange people into my home for play dates. We both have husbands who work a lot and two kids, and you know what? We both need to get away from it all sometimes.




Back when I was a single, childless person I never would have guessed that some day something like a trip to Target would seem like an ultra-relaxing getaway. But now doing anything alone feels to me like vacation. Sometimes you just want to step outside of your life for a moment, to be somewhere clean and bright and orderly, to have a goal (dish rack; travel-size toothbrush) that is simple and within reach.

We all read articles about finding me-time, but for most of us I think this is less a question of a day at the spa (who does that anyway?) and more like making some necessary chore into a slightly-more-enjoyable chore. Folding laundry while watching a silly, beloved television program, hitting up the drive-thru for a McCoffeeThing when the kids fall asleep in the car, even, yes, spending an afternoon wandering around Target – it’s these stolen moments alone that keep us sane sometimes. Whether we are the First Lady whose life is closely scrutinized by the media, or just, you know, a lady whose life is closely scrutinized by some small people and a dog, we all need our Target mini-vacations now and then.

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