Parker Curry, 2, went from standing in awe before a painting of Michelle Obama at the National Portrait Gallery to having a Taylor Swift dance party with the former first lady in her living room.
At the portrait's unveiling last month, Obama said she was thinking of girls who "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 of this great American institution." When Curry went to the gallery last week, another visitor took a photo of her staring intently at the modernist painting of Obama, and it went viral. Her mother, Jessica, took Parker and her infant sister, Ava, specifically to see the portraits of the Obamas. She told BuzzFeed News she was trying to get Parker to "to turn around so I could take a picture, but she wouldn't cooperate. She just wanted to stare at it. She was fascinated."
On Tuesday, Obama tweeted that she just had just met Curry at her house for one incredible play date, and shared a video of the pair dancing. "Parker, I'm so glad I had the chance to meet you today (and for the dance party)!" Obama said. "Keep on dreaming big for yourself ... and maybe one day I'll proudly look up at a portrait of you!"