March 7: Old Luce, Largest Vocabulary, Bouncing Blessings

Old Luce.  He was strictly a pain in the ass, but he certainly had a good vocabulary.  He had the largest vocabulary of any boy at Whooton when I was there.  They gave him a test.

Old Luce is one of Holden's former classmates.  He's pretentious and haughty.  In the short time he appears in Catcher, he demonstrates little patience for Holden's bullshit.  He's too wrapped up with his Eastern philosophy and artist girlfriend who's twenty-some years his senior.  Holden pretty much has Old Luce pegged:  he's a pain in the ass with a really good command of the English language.

I don't know why I started this post with Old Luce, and I don't know why Holden is so interested in him.  Luce is as much a phony as any of the other phonies at the beginning of the novel.   In fact, Luce could lead the entire parade of spoiled rich kids in Holden's life.  The only thing that sets Luce apart is that he's a little older than the rest of Holden's acquaintances, already attending Columbia University.

Yet, Holden reaches out to Luce for some reason.  Maybe it's desperation.  Maybe loneliness.  Whatever the reason, Luce fails to help Holden at all.  Luce is not one of the blessings in Holden's life.

On this Thursday, I don't have a particular blessing to focus upon.  To tell the truth, I don't even feel particularly blessed at all today.  I feel more like Holden, abandoned by Luce in a bar, ready to drink heavily to forget about my problems.

However, I will try to list a few things for which I'm grateful.  As I said, I'm not focused, so I'm going to be bouncing around my blessings.  Perhaps a little grace will stick to me.

I'm grateful for Red Lobster, which I had for lunch, thanks to a gift certificate from a friend.

I'm grateful for this blog, which allows me to whine and complain freely and without judgement.

I'm grateful for my daughter's love of dance.  Watching her move across a dance floor gives me great joy.

I'm grateful for my son's laugh.  He lifts my spirits on the darkest days.

I'm grateful for my wife's patience and understanding when I say every night, "I don't want to work tomorrow.  I'm tired."

I'm grateful for my work.  Hey, it pays the bills.  Almost.

I'm grateful for poetry.

I'm grateful for music.

I'm grateful for Robert Frost a Life, the book I'm reading right now.  Compared to Frost's, my life isn't so bad.

I'm grateful for my niece who gave me the idea to think about all the blessings in my life every morning.

I'm grateful for the cold cup of water at my elbow when I'm thirsty.

I'm grateful for the Take 5 candy bar in the refrigerator.  Just knowing it's there, and I can eat it, makes my happy.

I'm grateful for friends who read my blog posts.

I'm grateful for strangers who read my blog posts.

I'm grateful that tomorrow is Friday.

I'm grateful for pizza on Saturday night.

I guess I have a lot of grace in my life.  I just don't stop very often to take inventory.  Yet, I'm surrounded by blessings.  I just need an attitude of gratitude.

When I picked my daughter daughter up from religion class this past Monday, she said to me, "It would be really hard to be a martyr."  She'd been discussing saints in class.

Saint Marty thought for a moment and then said, "It could also be a blessing."