Thanks to Sister Toldja for setting off Happy Black Girl Day, which is every second Wednesday of the month. While it’s my goal to be all happy, all Black, and all girl…all the time, the second Wednesdays will be extra from here on out.

For those of us who are parents, particularly parents of girls, it is our J-O-B to make sure that our girls are happy. Each day as I travel through Brooklyn, whether heading to teach, grabbing some coffee from the bodega, or picking up TH from school, the streets are awash in unhappy Black girls from babies on up.

We have to break this cycle. Grown Black girls have to take maters into their own hands and step into their happiness, it’s the only way that young Black girls will begin to understand and recognize that they too, can be happy.

Let me tell you a little story:

Back in 2003, when I found out I was pregnant with TH, a lightbulb went off in my head. Now, I wasn’t always the happy Black girl that the 5 of you who read this know and love. Nope. I was a miserable mess. I disguised a lot of well, but those who were allowed to get close enough got to see the misery close up. I won’t go into all the details, because I am saving it for the next Tyler Perry script memoirs, but it was ugly.

But I digress…I knew that pregnancy and motherhood were about to change my life in much the same way as becoming a wife had, but this was different. Someone was going to be totally dependent upon me which is not much different from being a wife and I had to take a stand. Once the “+” sign showed up on the stick and I confirmed it with my doctor, my mind began to change. I remember telling myself that this child will never see their mommy unhappy because I have to model for them what it means to be a Black woman pursuing and enjoying life to the fullest. Once I found out that the child pop-locking in my uterus was going to be a girl, my mind kicked that up a couple of notches.

As TH came into the world and has progressed to the amazing almost-6 year old that she is, I have realized that my motherhood stylings , as well as dad’s ways of fatherhood, is helping to create the happiest Black girl on the planet. I don’t say this because she’s my kid, although I do have the inside track, but it is based on how she is in the world, with strangers and friends alike. Seriously, random strangers have approached me about how happy/polite/sweet/fabulous she is.

So this, my first Happy Black Girl Day post, is dedicated to the fabulous TH, my inspiration and whose motto is: I’ve got my afro and my shoes, let’s go!

Happy Black Girl Day!