Michelle Obama’s Final FLOTUS Interview Shows Why We’ll Miss Her

"There's so much that comes at us, all the time and every day in subtle ways that could tear your soul apart if you let it. But my mother always taught me, 'Girl, you better keep it moving. You better brush it off.'" That's Michelle Obama telling Oprah how she deals with negativity as a Black woman, but she could be giving advice to anyone. Monday night, the First Lady sat down with Oprah to discuss her last eight years shaping America alongside her husband Barack.

We're not sure if it's possible to experience nostalgia as an event is happening, but feeling has intensified with each successive appearance by the exiting First Family. Barack and Michelle have been historic not just as the first Black First Family, but also as they exit in the primes of their political careers and popularity. Michelle, in particular, has borne all the negativity lobbed her way with equanimity that would surely be diagnosable in certain psychiatric contexts. Here she is, for example, discussing how she's ready to assist incoming First Lady Melania Trump. Remember, Melania famously read a speech plagiarized from Michelle.

As always, she's the model of generosity of spirit and self-possession. Michelle is literally so centered that she slept on Election Night without knowing the outcome. We'll leave you with this, her reminder not to abandon Barack Obama's message of hope. “See, now we’re feeling what not having hope feels like. You know? Hope is necessary. It’s a necessary concept,” Obama told Oprah. “And Barack didn’t just talk about hope because he thought it was just a nice slogan to get votes. I mean, he and I and so many believe that if you — what else do you have if you don’t have hope?” Watch more of her interview here.