by Adina Brenner ’20 and Kat Mahoney ’20

‘I Couldn’t Help It…’

by Adina Brenner ‘20

Every year, each senior is allowed and encouraged to write a little blurb talking about themself as a way to end with a bang and really make their mark on the newspaper. After lots and lots of thinking, I came to the realization that if your column is supposed to be about a memory, or a life-changing event, or simply just how you became the person you are today, why not write about all of those things which is why today I will be talking about my best friend, Katherine Mahoney; better known to most as just “Kat.”

Kat has been there for practically all my memories. She has certainly changed my life and definitely played a major role in shaping the person I am today. Everyone has that one friend, the one who is always by your side, the one when given good news (or even bad) you want to tell right away, the one who simply puts a smile on your face no matter what the situation may be. Kat is that person for me. 

It all started in fifth grade. Long story short, Kat was new to Belmont Elementary School and me, constantly searching for new playground pals, went up to her right away. In that very moment, I knew this girl had the PERFECT Adina-like vibe. If there’s two main things I look for in a friend, they’ve gotta be humor and weirdness. If you can’t be yourself around someone, what’s the point of being their true friend. 

You may be asking yourself, “How did you know she was meant to be your best friend that quickly?” To that I would answer with one word … applesauce. It was the day before winter break, lunchtime to be exact. The lunch lady wanted to get rid of the rest of the food before the holidays, so she began to walk around the cafeteria with a cart full of fruit snacks, granola bars, and practically dozens of flavors of APPLESAUCE. At the time, not only was this substance my favorite snack, but fifth grade Adina would also eat practically anything put in front of her then (let’s call this my pudgy stage). Anyway, with uncontrollable excitement, I jumped up out of my chair and screamed at the lunch lady to bring that cart over to me. As I began to eat each squeezable applesauce pouch, on my own I might add, a girl walked over to me. She then pointed at one specific flavor of applesauce, titled “Pineyapple.” She told me it was her favorite and I looked up and told her it was mine too. She sat down next to me and together, we devoured every single applesauce pouch, down to the very last drop. Later that day, my new best friend Kat and I laughed together on the playground, danced together in the classroom, and even got sick together in the bathroom (I mean what did we expect… scarfing down 15 pouches of applesauce each). To this very day, we still call each other, Pineyapple. 

Anyway, now that you’ve gotten to know a little bit of our backstory, let me explain in more detail why she is and will forever be my best friend. Since then, we have made countless memories together, from crazy, up-all-night sleepovers to drives all over town with the windows down and music at full blast, Kat and I always find ways to have monstrous amounts of fun. She is my shoulder to cry on, the person I can laugh so hard with it practically hurts, and someone I trust more than anyone in this world. Although we may be separated at college in the fall, 80 miles will never separate the strongest bond to ever exist. Anyone who ever gets the chance to meet this girl should feel insanely lucky. I know I do. So thanks Kat. Thanks for being the sister I always wished for. And for my Mamma Mia fans out there, she will always be the Tanya to my Rosie.

“. . . It Had to Be You and I”

by Kat Mahoney ‘20

Everyone has the one person who brings out who they truly are: their good side, their bad side, their crazy side, and their serious side. Someone they can rely on to always be by their side. This person might come along in kindergarten or in graduate school; for me, she came into my life in fifth grade. Adina Brenner. 

Just by reading that name, I know many readers start to think of the shenanigans Adina and I have participated in. From presenting our version of “Hamlet” to our class while they tried to work to being rescued at 2 am from the most unexpected person, she is someone who is always with me when I go through the most memorable times (for both good and bad reasons). When I first tried to come up with what to write for this column, I thought of a summary of my high school, something I would remember about my time at Sherwood when I am old and the only thing I could think of were memories I had with Adina. While I am well aware of how cheesy that sounds, it is the truth. I would not be even close to who I am today without her. 

The earliest memory I have of her is in the fifth grade when Ms. Miller assigned us a project on creating an old newspaper and Adina and Anna Squiers were my partners. That was the day where we created so many memories. I forced her to eat my favorite Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, Chunky Monkey, and we listened to All Time Low, a band from Baltimore. This was the real start to our friendship. As the years have flown by and we have grown out of our All Time Low phase, we still sing their songs and travel back in time to our younger and stranger selves. Throughout those years that have passed, we have made many iconic memories. We ate applesauce till we were doubled over in pain, we planned trips to travel the world together, we drove around screaming to our favorite songs, and we labelled ourselves Tanya and Rosie after our favorite and the most iconic characters in our favorite movie, “Mamma Mia”. She is the only person I would call bawling over a heartbreak and 20 minutes later she would have me laughing so hard it hurts. She is the only person who truly gets me and my abnormal humor because her humor matches up perfectly to mine.

For those who have yet to have the pleasure of meeting her, Adina Brenner is the most amazing, funny, intelligent, strange person you will ever meet. She is my best friend and my soulmate. She has never let me down and she has never given up trying to make me smile when I am sad. She is the one friend I know everyone needs. Without her I would not be the crazy person I am today. She was the beaming light of happiness that stood by my side throughout more than half of my life, and I cannot wait to see where we go in life. I know no matter how far apart we are from each other, she will always be my Rosie and I will always be her Tanya.