Expect surprises

The turn out for my 30th high school reunion two weekends ago was slim, but I was struck by how the conversations pick up like it was yesterday. And even more so, by how our perceptions of people can change in an instant.
You have a picture of each person in your mind, as a teenager, but as an adult, the edges either harden or soften and subtly shift. Thirty years later the kids you might have thought were a bit wierd all those years ago are interesting to talk with. They have stories to tell about their kids that aren't run-in-the-mill. It's like meeting someone new that you've known all along.
But what I love about reunions is that you are reconnected with people who know you like no one else in the world ever does. When you've grown up together, there are certain short hands, a certain kind of knowing beyond knowing. You don't have to say much. You can just be with these people and feel that all is right with the world.
It's exactly the opposite of meeting new people who you connect with right away - who you feel you've known forever.
Then, there are people we don't take the time to get to know in our lives, who surprise us with their generousity and humanity in a way that can make us take a step back and just say "Wow!".
I was a bit thrown off when just before karate class on Monday night, one of the more senior black belts walked up to me, handed me a bo (which is a long stick we use in prearranged fighting sequences as a weapon and extension of our arm) and told me it was mine. This was just as we were about to line up for class, which made it all the more confusing. I had to run and put the bo away, not really understanding why he had given it to me, and then fight my monkey mind from pondering the question as class began.
I don't know David well. Only that he is a doctor at a prison, he wears sneakers in class while most of us are barefoot. He's a long lanky guy who always seems to have a smile on his face. (There's a great picture of David at beach training on Victor Ozols' blog)
When I ran over to my partner Larry after class to ask him what to do - at this point I was still thinking that maybe it was a joke - I learned that David makes these bos by hand. They are about 6 feet long, beautifully stained and highly polished. He has been coming to dojo recently with four or five in hand, and giving them out to new shodans.
I was very worried that I hadn't expressed my gratitude in the whirl of my confusion. And I will certainly have an opportunity to do that. But I am thinking today about how unaccustomed we are to random acts of kindness, and how unsettling they can be when they come to us out of left field. It is a reminder to me, to see the divinity in each person we come in contact with, no matter how fleeting the exchange may be. Or how frequent. And to expect surprises.