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There’s this Citibank commercial that cracks me up each time I see it. It shows a woman at a grocery store who mistakes a full-figured woman for being pregnant. The offending woman, embarrassed, utters a simple “thank you?” and all is fine and dandy. The voiceover goes, “It’s amazing what a simple ‘thank you’ can do.” Boy, I wish uttering those two words in real life can diffuse awkward situations just as easily.

“Thank you” songs are similar in a certain sense. There’s something light-hearted about them that takes the edge off of a stressful day. Dido surely feels this way when she sings Thank You, perhaps the most famous pop song about gratitude. Geggy Tah’s Whoever You Are, is so fun to listen to. Its chorus, “All I want to do is to thank you even though I don’t know who you are. You let me change lanes while I was driving in my car,” is a catchy little ditty that never fails to put a smile on my face. Del the Funkee Homosapien ends his 1993 underground hip-hop classic album with a tune called Thank Youse. In it, he takes time to thank his listeners, which is quite a nice departure from the rest of the album where braggadocio lyrics prevail.

Giving thanks has a way of focusing oneself towards the positive instead of the negative. And songs of gratitude, when directed towards the Creator, express the realization that every good thing is a gift from God and is not something earned.

*This was supposed to be my Thanksgiving post but it totally slipped my mind because of the busyness of the holiday.

I picked up my new glasses yesterday from the optometrist. I needed new ones for my herculean eighteen-month old wrenched apart my eyeglass frames (I knew I shouldn’t have handed them to him as an appeasement gesture). When I had my eye exam a couple of weeks ago, the optometrist told me that my vision has actually gotten better! So yay!

The wife and the two younger kids are sick but I’m thankful that I haven’t been afflicted so I’m able to care for them (thanks also to my understanding boss who had me have the day off). The wife is also well enough to attend classes. The eldest is fine as well. He would have been majorly disappointed if he had missed this week’s school and church activities.

When I brought the baby in to the doctor’s yesterday, he was diagnosed as having bad ear infections and pink eye. He was prescribed meds to take care of the bacteria that may have caused both infections. I’m happy that he’s getting treated for it but I came away from the doctor’s office with even better news.

A couple of months ago, the doctor found the baby to be dangerously underweight. It was little surprise to me for he had rejected cow’s milk and other substitutes after having been weaned off my wife’s milk. The doctor devised a plan of action: to feed him as much fatty foods as we can and to continue to encourage him to drink milk and juice. The good news yesterday was that he had gained 2.7 pounds since that visit. He’s on his way to normal growth. I was able to successfully get him to drink a 6 oz. cup of chocolate milk a day. I think it also helped that he saw that his older brother loved the stuff. Even at this young age, he already looks up to his brother!