Have you ever captured the moment that you and your friend became best friends? No? Neither have I. However, someone did take a photo of my best friend Courtney and I during one of the hardest times in our life. This hardship is what bonded us as friends because as we all know misery loves company. As I talked with Courtney about the history of this photo, we quickly began realizing we had little recollection of this event or who even took the photo. This quickly became what I call “The Pitts of Despair Mystery”. The mystery became a part of an interview focused on our growth through our friendship and what that looks like now.

Like any good mystery, this one began with a simple question,

Me: What is your initial reaction to this photo?

Courtney: Wow. This photo perfectly sums up that entire semester. And who took this picture? This was probably the most wild semester of studio ever. we all were miserable but still able to laugh ridiculously hard every day. We got fish. You almost died. Lmao, it was a time to remember. This photo makes me miss Chad a lot too.

For the record, this semester was in fact crazy. With such an eclectic group of students and an almost impossible amount of work to complete, it took little to no time for sleep induced delirium to set in. For me, not only did my mind give out but so did my body hence the “you almost died” comment made Courtney.

Courtney and I became in-laws as we both adopted fish from our friend Damari. When asked the origin story of our late Jaci and Charlotte, Damari said “I got them to be ‘spouses/partners’ for my two betta fish, but then I Googled that male betta fish also attack females (unless they're mating) and female bettas sometimes fight each other if they're together and I didn't want them to die so I had to give them away.”

This most interesting thing that I took from her answer was this: Who took this photo? Hmmm…To be honest, I had no clue. I am in it and presumably not breathing, so it couldn’t have been me… With permission from Courtney, I went to Facebook to pose this question.

So, no luck with finding the photographer. With that mystery currently pending, I decided to continue the interview with Courtney.

Me: What do you remember about this day/night?

Courtney: We were in Studio until about 5 am that morning and that's pretty much all I remember. The sleep deprivation was too real for me to remember details. I feel like William and Lauren were in the mix somewhere also. It was usually the 5 of us up there late at night.

Me: What do you remember feeling that night?

Courtney: I felt like going to bed. Lol. Every single day up there was grueling. I'm getting tired just thinking about it.

Yo, same. I would say on average that we got about 21-26 hours of sleep a week.

Me: How many times do you think we watched Beyonce's OTR I Tour?

Courtney: Mannnnnnn. Maybe like 5?? But we did play the album about 74287497309472390 times.

I know this sounds like a weird question, but Beyonce kept us alive at 4 am. Beyonce helped us through this semester. Thank you, Beyonce.

With this photo being the friend to bestie transition, I wanted to know what this meant for our friendship.

Me: How do you think this semester influenced our friendship? Like what standards do you think were set?

Courtney: I think that was the semester where we REALLY got to know each other. When we were in Farooq's studio, we were all cool but not as close as we got in Pittman's studio. I think that semester set us up for the way our friendship works now. We were literally together every day until you graduated and now we still talk every day. (We hella clingy lol)

We are clingy!!! I am a needed friend, to be honest. Courtney and I have been through A LOT over the time of our friendship: breakups, fights, medical emergencies, gym time, Aldi runs, tv binges, hiking new places, and ultimately transitioning into young adulthood. With that, I wanted to know what growth she saw over the years.

Me: This photo was taken 5 years ago and we've changed a lot since then. What changes have you seen in me, our friendship, and yourself over the years?

Courtney: Hmmmm. As far as changes in you, you have finally started to (kinda) relax and stop trying to plan every second of your life. This is a more mature Briana who is doing well in her career and slowly adjusting to adulthood. It’s cool to see. I feel like a proud parent. (We're going to keep working on the over planning thing though)

As far as our friendship, I think we are closer than ever because we don't see each other every day anymore so we talk pretty much everyday. Like if I didn't hear from you in the last 12 hours, I'm like "Where the hell is Briana? And why isn't she sending me memes?" We are more honest with each other and our filters have completely disappeared so we literally say anything to each other and it's not a big deal. Can't wait to see what we're like years from now because we're already a hot mess.

As far as me, there's a lot of changes. Most importantly, I think I am being more confident in general, I'm not as worried about what people think of me, and I'm not worried about what other people are doing. 5 years ago, I was super fragile, heartbroken, depressed, anxious, unsure about everything (my role is the architecture field included), angry, and more. (That list could go on forever) Looking back, all the stuff/people I let affect me wasn't worth the energy. I think I'm much happier now, less anxious, and I have good, genuine people in my life. I still haven't graduated but I created a whole career for myself on my own, and a successful one at that. I feel more confident in my abilities than ever and it's a great feeling.

I could not agree more, we have changed and grown so much in the past five years, and there will definitely be more changes as we transition into adulthood. In conclusion, I will leave you with a picture. This is the moment that we evolved from college besties to adult best friends. This is the beginning stages of a new set of growing. Let’s see where it goes :) Also, Beyonce if you read this, thanks again.

ATW Volume 3: Growing Up, Together

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