Thank you so much, Elaine... we are so grateful for your family's service and sacrifice...and we will always have your back.

Over the past few years as First Lady, I have had the extraordinary privilege of traveling all across this country.

And everywhere I've gone, in the people I've met, and the stories I've heard, I have seen the very best of the American spirit.

I have seen it in the incredible kindness and warmth that people have shown me and my family, especially our girls.

I've seen it in teachers in a near-bankrupt school district who vowed to keep teaching without pay.

I've seen it in people who become heroes at a moment's notice, diving into harm's way to save others... flying across the country to put out a fire... driving for hours to bail out a flooded town.

And I've seen it in our men and women in uniform and our proud military families... in wounded warriors who tell me they're not just going to walk again, they're going to run, and they're going to run marathons... in the young man blinded by a bomb in Afghanistan who said, simply, "... I'd give my eyes 100 times again to have the chance to do what I have done and what I can still do."

Every day, the people I meet inspire me... every day, they make me proud... every day they remind me how blessed we are to live in the greatest nation on earth.

Serving as your First Lady is an honor and a privilege... but back when we first came together four years ago, I still had some concerns about this journey we'd begun.

While I believed deeply in my husband's vision for this country... and I was certain he would make an extraordinary President... like any mother, I was worried about what it would mean for our girls if he got that chance.

How would we keep them grounded under the glare of the national spotlight?

How would they feel being uprooted from their school, their friends, and the only home they'd ever known?

Our life before moving to Washington was filled with simple joys... Saturdays at soccer games, Sundays at grandma's house... and a date night for Barack and me was either dinner or a movie, because as an exhausted mom, I couldn't stay awake for both.

And the truth is, I loved the life we had built for our girls... I deeply loved the man I had built that life with... and I didn't want that to change if he became President.

I loved Barack just the way he was.

非常感謝，伊蓮……我們非常感謝來自你家庭的服務和犧牲，我們永遠支持你。

過去的幾年來，借由作為第一夫人的非凡殊榮，我幾乎游遍了整個美國。

而無論我去到哪里，從我所見到的人們，所聽到的故事中，我都看到了最真切的美國精神。

在人們對我和我的家庭，特別是我的女兒們那難以置信的友善和熱情中，我看到了它。

在一個瀕臨破產的學區的教師們不收分文、堅持執教的誓言中，我看到了它。

在人們在突如其來的緊急召喚下化身英雄，縱身撲向災害去拯救他人……飛過整個國家去撲滅大火……驅車數小時去援助被淹沒的城鎮時，我看到了它。

在我們身著軍裝的男女軍人和自豪的軍屬身上……在受傷的戰士們告訴我他們不僅會再次站立行走，而是會奔跑，甚至參加馬拉松時……在一位于阿富汗因炸彈而失明的年輕人“……為了我所做的和我還將要做的，我寧愿失去我的眼睛一百次。”這樣輕描淡寫的話語中，我看到了它。

每一天，我所見到的人們都鼓舞著我……每一天，他們都令我驕傲……每一天，他們都在提醒我，能夠生活在這地球上最偉大的國度中是多么的幸福。

成為諸位的第一夫人，是我的榮耀和幸運……但當我們四年前首次聚在一起的時候，我仍對我們即將展開的旅程心懷疑慮。

對我丈夫心中的祖國愿景，我滿懷信心……對他將成為一位出色的總統，我也深信不疑……但是就像所有的母親一樣，我也曾擔心如果他當選，這對我們的女兒們意味著什么。

身處萬眾矚目的聚光燈下，我們要如何讓他們保持腳踏實地？

當他們被迫離開從小熟悉的家、學校、和朋友時，會有什么感受？

在搬到華盛頓之前，我們的生活充滿簡單的快樂……周六參加足球賽，周日則在祖母家……還有巴拉克和我的約會之夜，我們要么出去晚餐，要么去看場電影，因為作為一個筋疲力盡的老媽，我實在沒法同時去晚餐和電影還不打瞌睡。

說真話，我愛我們為女兒們所創造的生活……我深愛和我一起創造這生活的男人……而且我不愿意讓這一切因為他當了總統而發生變化。

我愛的就是巴拉克原來的樣子。