On the weekend, Mike and I went to a terrific gospel concert at the St. James United Church here in Montreal. Amongst the songs the choir sang was "Oh Happy Day!" and I can't seem to get the tune out of my mind.
It's funny how happiness seems to be a state of mind. Ever notice how some people seem grumpy no matter what (they even have grumpy faces)? It's true that sometimes, really rotten stuff happens to us (good story material if nothing else) and feeling happy would be inappropriate... but other times, people seem to be grumpy for no good reason.
So here's why I'm feeling "Oh Happy Day" today. My neighbour's garden is full of tiny purple crocuses. And you may remember Shanel, one of the students I met at Beaconsfield High School last week. She's the one who promised to start writing a journal for three months in an attempt to improve her writing. Well she just sent me an e-mail message and I'm going to copy in what she wrote:
"hi its shanel me and mrs.cochrane have desided to make the class write a journal for 20 to 25 minutes a day and i have writen four journals already we will be doing it ti'll june.bye"
NOW I CALL THAT A HAPPY DAY!!
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Comments
Hi Monique
Great news about What World is Left. And I love your posts about "getting in the mood" to write. Still hoping to take you to lunch sometime...
Best,
Bev
PS Oh Happy Day is an interesting song to associate with a book on the Holocaust, but I know what you mean about not being able to get it out of your head. Here's a version from Sister Act 2 that's an oldie but goodie (somewhere I have a download of The Jubilation Gospel Choir singing same. There's also a version by JGC on youtube but I'm not sure if it's really the same choir). Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLY7yI1xV-M&feature=PlayList&p=13F0C3460C6B5202&index=0&playnext=1