We’re nearing the end of a long stretch of houseguests, ranging in age from <1 to >70. I’m glad to have the memories, but I’m also finding that I’m glad to have the new knowledge that comes with inviting people into a space with which I am very familiar and within which I have many well worn routines and habits.

Guests open windows that you have never opened, cook in ways you never would if left to your own devices and kitchen, and sometimes show you exactly how loud your stereo is capable of playing. They pull you into stores in your town that you have walked or driven past a hundred times, they ask familiar clerks unfamiliar questions, and coming in from some quiet time on you back steps, they tell you how beautiful that view — that you’ve simply grown used to — really is.

With those thoughts in mind, I was pleased to see that Reshan Richards jumpstarted his blog today. He’s been a houseguest — in my actual house, yes, but more often in my inbox or Zoom window or telephone — on so many occasions over the past few years, rearranging my mental furniture and helping me to see new uses for old things, and perhaps more important, new things for old uses. He’ll do the same for you.