sometimes...

Sometimes, i get caught up in the notion that I know people.  I think I can predict, based on past observations, how people will behave, how they will respond, who they are.  Perhaps this has given me a comforting sense of predictability, or perhaps it boosts my ego to think that I have an ability to read people in a way that others cannot.
In spite of that, I continue to observe and people continually amaze me in the most delightful ways.
The brother, whom thirty years ago, I thought did not really know I was alive, has turned out to be an amazing man that I count on in so many ways and who does not let me down - ever.
The daughter, who at five and six and seven was so shy and hesitant has turned out to be a daring, confident, world traveler who constantly goes forth bravely into uncharted territory and makes a new path.
The son, whom, to the careless eye, might appear undisciplined, is truly contemplative, highly intelligent, and caring.
Then there are the patients, who handle heart breaking, mind shattering, life altering events with a grace and tenacity that I am in awe of.  They survive beyond all predictions or expectations and sometimes  small miracles occur with them.  They thank me, yet I know it is them that allow such marvelous mysteries to materialize.
Finally, there is the couple who has come to the rescue for my father.  Dad recently suffered a minor stroke which has landed him in the long dreaded nursing home.  My brother and I were celebrating the holidays far away when this took place.  As Dad spent time in the hospital and then moved to the home, one couple visited, cared for him, communicated to us, and put up with dad's complaining, confusion, and sadness.  I knew the man when I was very young and back then he was a wild dude.  Living fast and hard, playing life for all it was worth.  I would not have anticipated that he would turn out to be the friend that would spend hours tending to and comforting my father.  I could not have foreseen, from the vantage point of my limited mind, that he and his wife would be constant and rock solid support for my father.
Perhaps my father did.  As I look at his life, he always knew how to pick 'em.  I think I'll take a lesson from him.