The father of the Prodigal Son

We all know the story of the prodigal son. We can often see ourselves or a close loved one as the prodigal. Then we take a look at the "good" brother,the one that stayed at dad's side thru it all. But how much thought have we given to the dad? The prodigals father, knew his son very well. He knew his sons weaknesses,previous failures,struggles etc. I can imagine that there were previous issues where they didn't agree,where the son rebelled etc... In the story recorded in the gospels,we see the father willingly give his son his portion of the inheritance. We don't see or hear a lecture given with it. The father doesn't tell his son what to do with it. The father freely gives it and releases the son. Here is where my struggle begins...
Now why would we(parent,friend spouce)do domething like this? We can rationalize why they don't deserve it,why they should suffer,or seek forgiveness first. They should prove they have "learned their lesson". The father doesn't remind the son of his past mistakes etc...
Then comes that day,the day the son returns. Dad sees him and runs to him. He doesn't give him the I told you so lecture. He doesn't say, he has been waiting for an apology. The father runs to his son and embraces him.
When the sons attempts to give an apology of sorts,the father stops and tells the sevents to prepare a feast, get him a robe,a ring, sandals for his feet. At this point the father didn't know anything about where his son had been or what he had done. He didn't make sure he had"learned his lesson". He also didn't know if the son had made a permenant change. He didn't know if the son was truly done "sowing his oats". He didn't have a guarantee that his son wasn't going to mess up again.
How do we handle it when someone close to us sins against us? Or when soemone under our authority rebels against us?
I know for me, they have to jump over proverbial hurdles, or prove to me they are really sorry. I want to know that I know that they won't do it again. In the back of my mind I have the list of wrongs.
The prodigal's father lived out unconditional love, towards both sons. He loved them both unconditionally.
"Love is patient,love is kind. It does not envy,it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking. It is not easily angered,it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." I Corinthians 13:4-7
This man knew exactly how to live that out.
If we are honest with ourselves,we have conditions on our love for other people. We may say we love those close to us,but when it comes down to it,is it the true love that we hear about in scripture? Do our actions,thoughts,words,the mediatations of our hearts show this level of love?
It grieves me to think about those that I have hurt or distanced myself from because I live more like the prodigals brother than his father.