Happy, Am I

I woke up this morning, my body aching with the stress of this week’s work (job, getting packed and travelling, and with the today’s “Power of Blogging” workshop at the International Black Genealogy Summit. “Happy, Am I,” I thought as I lay in bed procrastinating about rising up to tackle the morning’s numerous tasks.

“Happy, Am I” was a song made famous by the Elder Lightfoot Solomon Michaux (1884-1968) beginning in the 1920s. He is remembered by my maternal grandmother and others as the “Happy, Am I,” preacher. This peppy, hand- clapping and feet-tapping, theme song opened up his radio broadcast and television show and was especially inspirational to listeners during The Great Depression in the late 1920s and early 1930s.


Read more about how I discovered Elder Michaux


After getting out of bed, I watched the video below and clapped and moved to the beat in order to wake up my tired body.





All morning, I have meditated on the “Happy, Am I” and the memory of Elder Michaux. I also began making a list of some things that I am Happy about today.

“Happy, Am I”

For overcoming obstacles that occurred earlier in the week which threatened to prevent my attendance at this conference and conducting the Blogging workshop.

For the opportunity to share my knowledge of blogging with attendees of the conference.

For being in the company, for a few days, of enthusiastic and “OVERLY HAPPY” genealogists.

And most of all, that by 2:00 p.m. today, I can exhale when my presentation is over and enjoy the remainder of the conference.