Parenting

Michelle Obama Meets The Toddler Awestruck By Her Portrait In Viral Photo

by Cassandra Stone
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Originally Published: 
Image via Facebook/Ben Hines/Twitter/Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama told the little girl to ‘keep dreaming big’

Anytime the Obamas make headlines in the endless news cycle of doom we’re used to these days, it’s like a breath of fresh air. So let’s all just take a moment to thank Michelle Obama for making our day by making a two-year-old’s dreams come true.

Parker Curry is an adorable toddler who recently went viral after being photographed admiring Obama’s official portrait in the National Portrait Gallery in D.C.

Ben Hines, the photographer who just happened to be standing near Parker, told Buzzfeed he was happy to have been in the right place at the right time. “It was so touching and uplifting to see this beautiful child looking at a portrait of a powerful woman,” he said.

Now that right there? That is A Moment. A simple, beautiful, and poignant moment that makes all of us miss the Obamas profoundly. Because Michelle Obama is a literal queen, the former First Lady decided she wanted to meet Parker herself. So she set up an official meeting.

And it was EVERYTHING.

Obama’s tweet shows a T-Swift dance party in full force, and she captioned it by saying “maybe one day I’ll proudly look up at a portrait of you!”

Now if that doesn’t give you a lump the size of Texas in the back of your throat, I don’t know what would. Twitter seems to agree, with a multitude of people acknowledging how awesome everything about this whole story is.

YES. Honestly it’s just so pure, and it harkens us all back to a simpler time. You know, when we weren’t in the middle of the downfall of the empire of the United States. Remember what it was like to have faith in our leadership? Or to at least not be in a low-key panic pretty much all of the time?

Little Parker Curry will win at every single show-and-tell for all time, basically.

When I was seven years old, I wrote a letter to Bill Clinton. A couple of months later, he wrote back. That framed letter has followed me to three dorms, two apartments, and two houses because I treasure it. It’s no dance party with Bill playing the sax or anything, but it’ll do.

To make this story even more meaningful and happy-cry-worthy, during the unveiling ceremony for her official portrait, were Michelle Obama’s words: “I’m thinking about all of the young people, particularly girls and girls of color, who in years ahead will come to this place and they will look up and they will see an image of someone who looks like them hanging on the wall.”

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