Summary: My friend Anne declares that there are two different kinds of houseguests. Anne divides them in two groups. "Change the sheets" or "don't change the sheets" houseguests are her categories. With a parade of children and grandchildren, one group is not guests so much as they are staying over. Then there are the houseguests where you hope to make the right impression - your daughter's new in-laws - a work colleague from out of town. For those, you not only change the sheets, but you straighten the pillow shams, turn on the lamps, set out some finger foods on the coffee table. Soft instrumental music in the background. Then there are the guests who are not family, but they might as well be. They are childhood friends, college buddies, "the girls." These are the friends you don't set out a cheese ball and crackers for - you just tell them if they are hungry, they should get up and fix something. Then, at night, way past late, these are the friends you sit with on the sofa, pull your knees up to your chin and the conversation turns to things that happened 10, 15, 20 years ago. Then the conversation turns to hopes for 10, 15, 20 years from now. We share what we accomplished and what we hope to accomplish. We share how it did not turn out like we thought or hoped. Ambitions unfulfilled - regrets. The things I wanted; the things I still want. It does not go away - it is like an unsatisfied craving. We think, "There is something out there that I still have not acquired that will make this all feel better."
