Among the many fantasy world’s in which I live, one of them has me a part of former FLOTUS’ Michelle Obama’s gal group. To find out that she has one in real life fills me with so much hope. As you probably know, one of Michelle’s First Lady causes was childhood obesity. (She had several causes as FLOTUS but Let’s Move was her first program.) Michelle recently let us know that a lucky group of her close friends were invited to boot camps at the White House while she lived there. Now that someone else moved in to her former home, Michelle has kept up the boot camps and just found a new location. After her lovely Father’s Day tribute to her husband last Sunday, Michelle posted this on her Instagram:

When I was at the White House, I often hosted bootcamp weekends for my close girlfriends. It didn’t matter that we were all at varying fitness levels. Our bootcamp weekends were a reminder that if we want to keep taking care of others, we need to take care of ourselves first. And even though I’m no longer at the White House, I've continued this tradition and wanted to share some photos. My girlfriends have been there for me through all kinds of life transitions over the years – including a pretty big one recently! – and we’ve done our best to stay healthy together. Whether it’s a bootcamp or a walk around the neighborhood, I hope you and your crew can find some time this summer to be healthy together.

A post shared by Michelle Obama (@michelleobama) on Jun 19, 2017 at 7:50am PDT

The caption reads:

When I was at the White House, I often hosted bootcamp weekends for my close girlfriends. It didn’t matter that we were all at varying fitness levels. Our bootcamp weekends were a reminder that if we want to keep taking care of others, we need to take care of ourselves first. And even though I’m no longer at the White House, I’ve continued this tradition and wanted to share some photos. My girlfriends have been there for me through all kinds of life transitions over the years – including a pretty big one recently! – and we’ve done our best to stay healthy together. Whether it’s a bootcamp or a walk around the neighborhood, I hope you and your crew can find some time this summer to be healthy together.

Uhm – lucky ducks! Not the having to exercise part but the rest. And she said, “boot camp weekends,” which sounds like a whole White House sleepover, right? In my version, that involves prank calling the British Ambassador about Prince Albert in a can and building a fort in the Lincoln bedroom.

I like the notion of taking care of others in this way. I’m sure she was speaking in a larger sense of taking care of our children and families but she probably also means checking in with those we care about to see how their headspace is. I’m a solitary exerciser. I need my music, a long stretch of road and no interruptions. But that’s because I’m an introvert who needs time by myself to recharge. However, I’ve recently realized I need to get my butt in a gym and work on these arms that have somehow been replaced by my grandmother’s. And one of the few ways to get me to a gym, boot camp or anything involving heavy lifting is to have someone expecting me. So, I fully co-sign with her notion of a group holding each other responsible for their health, be it physical or mental. And yes – many of us need to get past the fact that maybe we aren’t the top of our fitness class.

BTW – you might be smarter than me but it took me a little while to realize I could click through that Instagram post for other pictures. You can see all MObama’s crew in them. I think there’s room for me next to the lady in the black t-shirt and cap. Imma put my water bottle right there… and maybe just shout, “DIBS!”

Photo credit: WENN Photos, Instagram and Getty Images