Rereading Miles: The Wisdom of Cordelia

Rereading Cordelia when I'm nearly her age is a strange experience.  She always seemed so mature and wise when I was younger, and now that I'm closing in on her age when we first meet her in Shards of Honor, I think I'm even more impressed by her wisdom because I don't feel anything like it in myself.  Maybe next year? 

Of course, our life experiences are, you know, different.  She's a fictional character who lives in a far future sci-fi world, and there's a war going on and stuff, but her wisdom about people and her ability to forgive when necessary (and her ability to know when something else is called for and then follow through with it) are universal traits.  She truly does pour out honor like a fountain. 

My fountain is certainly less infinite and much more sludgy and often broken.  I often feel more like a pool for the grace of God.

Have you ever read a book frequently enough to know this odd feeling of creeping up on characters who don't age?  It's kind of like what happens when you read Sunday comics that are frozen in time, I suppose.  Or that feeling of knowing people who died young and are thus frozen in time at that age.  Anyway, it's an interesting experience. 

I wonder what I will think of Cordelia when I read one of her books and am older than she is.