Friendships are an action.

Jet and I are genuinely excited to have friends coming to stay with us this weekend. Not because we have some elaborate weekend planned or because we feel like we need to entertain them every second they're here, but because they're coming simply to spend time with us.

They want to see our home, experience this little slice of heaven we've built for ourselves, explore some of the beautiful places around us, eat good food, laugh, talk, and just enjoy each other's company.

There's something really special about people who don't need anything from you other than you.

I actually met Melissa through a mutual friend during my previous relationship. Looking back, I think when we first met, we were both in very different places in our lives. We were younger, probably a little more immature, and I don't think either of us could have truly appreciated then what we can appreciate about one another now.

We've both worked incredibly hard to get where we are today.

We've raised kids, built homes, navigated relationships, experienced heartbreak, made mistakes, learned lessons, started over in different ways, and created lives we're proud of.

There's a different kind of appreciation for someone when you understand what it took for them to get where they are.

Since I ended my relationship with Steve, Melissa has been one of those people who has consistently cheered me on. She's celebrated my accomplishments, supported my decisions, and most importantly, has been genuinely happy to see me happy.

I've learned that those people are incredibly valuable.

Anyone can be around when you're struggling. But there's something beautiful about a person who can watch good things happen for you and celebrate them as if they're happening to someone they truly love.

I'm really looking forward to building a stronger friendship with her now, even though we live about an hour and a half apart.

Because adult friendships are hard.

Not because we don't care about each other, but because life gets in the damn way.

There are kids' schedules, work schedules, spouses, appointments, houses to take care of, laundry that apparently reproduces when nobody is looking, grocery shopping, family obligations, and a never-ending list of things that need to be done.

When we were kids, making friends was easy.

You walked outside, found another kid, made a mud pie together, and congratulations—you had a best friend.

Now you need three calendars, two months' notice, childcare, somebody to feed the dog, and an act of Congress just to have lunch.

And maybe that's why I've come to value friendship so much more as I've gotten older.

Because now I understand that friendship is an action.

It's not just loving someone or thinking about them or saying, "We really need to get together soon."

It's making the effort.

My friendship with my best friend Amy has taught me that in a huge way. She has a special-needs son, which makes it difficult for her to get out very often. I know that her life doesn't always allow her to just drop everything and meet me somewhere.

So I go to her.

I try to use my lunch break at least once a week to stop by her house. We don't need an event. We don't need to go anywhere. Sometimes I just sit there and we talk.

That's it.

And those visits mean the world to me.

I've realized that if someone matters to you, sometimes you have to stop waiting for life to magically create time for them.

You make the time.

You drive the hour and a half.

You spend your lunch break sitting in the leaving room chair.

You send the text.

You make the plans.

You show up.

Because life is busy for all of us, and it's probably never going to suddenly become convenient.

The older I get, the more I believe that the effort you put into the right people comes back to you tenfold.

And maybe that's what I'm most excited about this weekend.

I'm not excited about hosting.

I'm excited about connecting.

I'm excited for Melissa to see this life I've built and for me to hear more about hers. I'm excited for Jet and me to share our home with people who don't care if everything is perfect. I'm excited for conversations around the table, exploring the area, eating too much, laughing about things we probably shouldn't, and having nowhere else we're supposed to be.

Most of all, I'm excited about what this friendship could become in this stage of our lives.

Maybe Melissa and I met the first time because our paths happened to cross.

But maybe we're becoming friends now because we're finally at a place in our lives where we understand just how valuable a good friendship really is.

Life changes.

People grow.

Priorities shift.

And sometimes the people you met in one chapter turn out to belong in a completely different one.

So this weekend isn't about having company over.

It's about making time for people who are worth making time for.

Because we can't just walk outside and make mud pies together anymore.

Apparently adulthood requires calendars.

But the good ones?

They're worth getting out the calendar for.