Putting herself on the path to law school sets Michelle onto a track that she does not move from for many years, until she ultimately realizes that this isn’t what she wanted in the first place. At the same time, even though this job might not have made her happy, it leads her to some of the most rewarding parts of her life: the jobs that come after, marrying Barack, and thus ultimately ending up as First Lady of the United States. Thus, it is not that the steps along the way were not worth it—instead, they allowed Michelle to grow and “become” something that she never thought she would be.