I’ve been in the same friend group since eighth grade, and our friendship is at the point where it is generally known that if you see one of us out and about in the city, the other three will loom somewhere nearby. This acute level of closeness has been developing over the years, and it is something that I catch myself quickly taking for granted; however, over the course of my final year in high school, where I see my best friends every day, I have grown a deeper appreciation for this tight-knit group of friends I have had over the years. I would like to take a moment to revel in not only their impact on me but my thankfulness for what they have taught me as they each bring out an oftentimes hidden characteristic within myself. Just for clarification if you for some reason don’t know who I’m referring to, I am talking about the “Fab Four” as our mothers like to call us, which consists of Courtney, Tess, Anna, and myself.

Starting all the way back at the time of her birth began my friendship with Courtney Adam. We like to blame our lack of basic socialization skills and introverted tendencies on the fact that we grew up with each other from pre-walking ages and never had to branch out and meet new people. While we both joke about this, it made the college roommate hunt all the more challenging as this is the first stage in our life we are taking apart. Despite how upsetting it is that I won’t be bringing my 18-year-long friendship to college with me, I am grateful to take with me an aspect of her personality: being a hater. Now, I know it sounds extremely rude to call one of my best friends a hater, but this is something that she not only defines herself as, but also takes pride in. I can always count on Courtney to call out people for their hypocritical actions, obscene behaviors, and terrible decision-making, which is something everyone needs in their life. Without this, it’s easy to catch yourself making excuses for other people’s behaviors and constantly being walked all over. By being a hater, for even the simplest of things, you learn to put yourself first, and that is one of the biggest takeaways I have from Courtney. From her surface-level dislikes of celebrity actions all the way to her takes on the hottest drama at GHS, I can always count on her 100% down-to-earth opinion and honesty, which is an attribute I hope to get a little more of as I begin to navigate the world without her.

Moving onto my subsequent friendship out of the Fab Four is my sixth-grade-bestie, Tess Peel. We met through our homeroom class out in the trailers, where we both shared the notion that we didn’t know much of anyone else in our class. While we didn’t bond immediately, over the course of the school year we became close, and I even swayed her in the direction of becoming friends with Courtney, which was hard because they both found the other to be a little annoying. Throughout our friendship, I have grown more confident in myself, as Tess has always been my biggest advocate in everything I do. She is always there to stick up for me when I can’t do it myself and rationalize my thought process in any problematic circumstance I encounter. I can attribute the growth of my emotional intelligence to Tess, as she has always been capable in that regard herself and has been gracious enough to share that with me. I am so thankful to have had access to this emotional maturity over the years or else I would still be the same entitled sixth grader wearing matching neon justice athletic sets who didn’t care in the slightest about what went on in the world around her. The quality from Tess that I hope to carry with myself in the future is her caring and advice-giving nature that is always there to guide you through the tough times.

By the end of my intermediate school days, I had a trio in my life that I was more than happy with, but this all soon changed on February 14, 2019, when a fellow middle school choir acquaintance dropped a speaker on her toe in the pouring rain, the girl being Anna Pramuka. Prior to this infamous event that we refer to as our friendship origin story, Anna and I were simply mutual friends who could always have a good laugh together. Even on the day she dropped the speaker on her toe, Tess invited her to hang out with the group for the rest of the day when Courtney and I were both opposed. While at this moment we didn’t know the friendship that would soon surface, I could not be more grateful for Tess’s decision to invite Anna along. This entire night we went through all the emotions where we cried over the online Christmas Carol test, were infuriated when certain written responses were deleted, and most importantly laughed harder than ever before as we not only saw our terrible scores on the test but instantly bonded to the friends we are today. The majority of these laughs can be accredited to Anna as she always keeps the energy among a group lively and entertaining. I can especially thank her for always getting me to go out and enjoy life, which I am eternally grateful for as I would’ve easily studied my high school experience away instead of going on spontaneous night drives and having memorable times with all of my friends. My biggest lesson from Anna is not always to take things so seriously and lose track of enjoying life because the joyful experiences along the way will always be more important than studying the Gilded Age APUSH curriculum.

Having such a close group of friends over the past five years has truly been the best experience of my life. Of course, I will always remember the Portage Lakes boat days, the Cedar Point trips, and our countless pottery paintings at Glazed and Amused, but I am forever appreciative of their impact on myself as I would not be who I am today without them. Thank you Courtney, Tess, and Anna for making me the best version of myself possible, long distance college years have nothing on us.